At https://phys.org/news/2026-06-giant-fan-east-antarctica.html … which is derived from a press release, or abstract of the article in the journal Nature Geoscience but see the full article at https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-026-01991-6 … The article is the result of research and modeling into sub-glacial basins underneath East Antarctica. This is the big lump of the Antarctic, home of the south pole. West Antarctica is the smaller piece, the peninsular that juts out into the Southern Ocean where it is regularly washed by warm ocean water travelling from the Indian into the South Atlantic. It juts out in a twisted fashion towards the tip of South America – via various islands such as the South Orkneys and King George Island. At one time South America would have been joined to Antarctica via this peninsular – possibly for some time after the break up of Gondwana. Even the peninsular itself has many islands as if they had been pulled apart and the crust stretched. I mention this as it might have a bearing on the fan structure. It might not of course.
The ice on East Antarctica is up to 3 km thick. Using sub glacial topography with geological observations, gravity, magnetic and seismic date, and crustal and lithospheric models, the researchers discovered a giant fan shaped structure beneath the ice. On a continental scale. The fan is made up of a system of enormous subglacial basins – and they radiate in a fan like manner. Go to the link for the diagrams. Their analysis says the fan shape was formed by ‘distributed rotational extension.’ This is where the crust spreads out from a central point. It is apparently stretched crust, the basins being compared to fingers. How did it come about? Tectonic processes are suggested. It could have developed, we are told, as a result of the split away from what is now Australia. It doesn’t mention the split away from the tip of South America.
Its an interesting discovery but note the word could when suggesting the split from Australia via Plate Tectonics. It could also apply to the earth expansion theory, usually ignored by mainstream geologists in published research papers.