East Antarctic rifting triggers uplift of the Gamburtsev Mountains

Fausto Ferraccioli (), Carol A. Finn, Tom A. Jordan, Robin E. Bell, Lester M. Anderson and Detlef Damaske
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Fausto Ferraccioli: British Antarctic Survey, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0ET, UK
Carol A. Finn: US Geological Survey, Denver, Colorado 80225, USA
Tom A. Jordan: British Antarctic Survey, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0ET, UK
Robin E. Bell: Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University
Lester M. Anderson: British Antarctic Survey, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0ET, UK
Detlef Damaske: Bundensanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe, Hannover, Stilleweg 2, 30655, Germany

Nature, 2011, vol. 479, issue 7373, 388-392

Abstract: Mountain building beneath Antarctica Radar, gravity and magnetic data from the Gamburtsev subglacial mountains, hidden beneath the East Antarctic ice sheet, reveal a previously unknown rift system that helps to explain the enigmatic origin of the Gamburtsevs. The geophysical data define a 2,500-kilometre-long rift system surrounding the mountain range, above a thick crustal root. The Gamburtsevs challenge conventional thinking on mountain building, located as they are on what is widely assumed to be a stable craton. Modelling suggests that the mountains arose from a combination of rift-flank uplift, root buoyancy and isostatic response, resulting in fluvial and glacial erosion.

Date: 2011
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DOI: 10.1038/nature10566

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