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Scientists Map 2-Mile-Deep East Antarctic Basin Linking Lakes

6/8/2026

Summary

Story summary

Researchers uncovered a structure two miles beneath Antarctica’s ice, called the East Antarctic Fan-shaped Basin Province.
The basin links the Wilkes and Aurora subglacial basins with Lake Vostok, the largest subglacial lake.
Authors mapped it with geological, gravity, magnetic and crustal-model data and say it formed by distributed rotational extension.
Because basins underlie half of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, they likely affect ice flow and may influence warming response.

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Story summary

Researchers uncovered a structure two miles beneath Antarctica’s ice, called the East Antarctic Fan-shaped Basin Province.
The basin links the Wilkes and Aurora subglacial basins with Lake Vostok, the largest subglacial lake.
Authors mapped it with geological, gravity, magnetic and crustal-model data and say it formed by distributed rotational extension.
Because basins underlie half of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, they likely affect ice flow and may influence warming response.