The two plates of Antarctica

2000/05/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Geologia

The Earth has not always had its present aspect. The continents are situated on moving plates, moving away and approaching each other. It is what is known as plate movement or Drift from the Continents, and although the theory was first published by Wegener in 1912, until the 1960s the issue was not seriously addressed.

During the last 30 years, the plates that make up the Earth have been identified and named and their movements have been established. In this continent and plate sauce, Antarctica is the least studied and so far quite unknown. The University of California Oceanography Organization has conducted extensive geo-climatic research on Antarctica, with the aim of learning about the continent's movement over the last 80 million years. It seems that the east and the lower Antarctica began to distance 46 million years ago, moved 180 kilometers apart and stopped moving 26 million years ago.

This movement, in addition to clarifying some points of Antarctic morphology, helps us understand the movement of the Australian and Pacific plates. This discovery influences the global movement of plates.