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Scientists published the results of a pioneering survey of the "lost continents" hidden under Antarctica.
Data from the gravity field and Ocean Circulation Explorer were used to analyze ancient landmasses hidden more than a kilometer below the ice crust.
A team of researchers from the German University of Kiel and the British Antarctic Survey has just published a study based on data from the gravity field and the Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE).
This spacecraft collected enormous amounts of information about the gravitational attraction of the Earth before being directed into the atmosphere and destroyed during a planned suicide dive in advance.
"These gravimetric images revolutionize our ability to study the least understood continent of the planet: Antarctica," said co-author Fausto Ferraccioli, scientific leader of geology and geophysics at BAS.
"In East Antarctica, we see an exciting mosaic of geological features that reveal fundamental similarities and differences between the crust found under Antarctica and the other continents to which it has been attached until there are 160 millions of years. "
Scientists have found that the West Antarctic crust is thinner than that of East Antarctica, which resembles a family resembling Australia and India.
The Orient contains remnants of land that once belonged to Gondwana, a long-gone "supercontinent" that covers about 39,000,000 square kilometers.
The results of the study will also be used to study the impact of the geology and continental structure of Antarctica on melting ice.
Roger Haagmans, a scientist with ESA's GOCE mission, added: "It's exciting to see that the direct use of gravity gradients, measured for the first time with GOCE, leads to an independent new look at the Earth. even under a thick layer of ice.
"It also provides a context of how the continents may have been connected in the past before they split due to the movement of the plates."
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