# Scientists Discover a Giant Fan-Shaped Basin System Hidden Beneath East Antarctica, Earth's Largest Unrecognized Geological Structure

*2026-06-05 06:01 UTC · Science · 2 min read*

> Durham University researchers found a continent-scale fan of 30 hidden basins beneath East Antarctica, formed as the crust stretched when Antarctica and Australia split 150 million years ago.

Researchers led by Dr. Guy Paxman of Durham University have identified a vast fan-shaped network of 30 subglacial basins buried beneath the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, uniting features once mapped separately into a single continent-scale structure they call the East Antarctic Fan-shaped Basin Province. The basins, hidden under ice more than three kilometres thick in places, all radiate from a single pivot point at 86.4 degrees south, 129.9 degrees east, and include the well-known Wilkes and Aurora basins and the basin holding Lake Vostok, Earth's largest subglacial lake.

The team says the province formed through "distributed rotational extension," in which continental crust stretched outward from a fixed point as Antarctica and Australia split apart around 150 million years ago. They liken the pattern to a spread hand: the base of the thumb stays anchored while the fingers fan out, with triangular basins opening in the gaps.

Beyond rewriting part of Antarctica's tectonic history, the hidden landscape shapes how ice flows and where meltwater pools today, so it could influence the stability of ice-sheet regions most vulnerable to climate change. Models suggest the bedrock could rebound by up to a kilometre if the overlying ice were removed. The study was published in Nature Geoscience on June 3, 2026.

## Sources

- [phys.org](https://phys.org/news/2026-06-giant-fan-east-antarctica.html)
- [nature.com](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-026-01991-6)
- [durham.ac.uk](https://www.durham.ac.uk/news-events/latest-news/2026/06/giant-fan-shaped-geological-structure-discovered-beneath-east-antarctica/)

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TechTools News · https://techtools.cz/tools/news/article/1775-scientists-discover-a-giant-fan-shaped-basin-system-hidden-beneath-east
Česká verze: https://techtools.cz/tools/news/clanek/1848-vedci-objevili-pod-vychodni-antarktidou-obri-vejirovitou-soustavu-panvi