FN Archimer Export Format PT J TI Late Cenozoic unification of East and West Antarctica BT AF GRANOT, Roi DYMENT, Jerome AS 1:1;2:2; FF 1:;2:; C1 Ben Gurion Univ Negev, Dept Geol & Environm Sci, IL-84105 Beer Sheva, Israel. Univ Paris Diderot, CNRS UMR 7154, Inst Phys Globe Paris, Sorbonne Paris Cite, F-75005 Paris, France. C2 UNIV NEGEV, ISRAEL UNIV PARIS 07, FRANCE IN DOAJ IF 11.878 TC 43 UR https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00689/80081/83110.pdf https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00689/80081/83111.pdf https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00689/80081/83112.pdf LA English DT Article CR TACT 2012 TACT 2016 BO L'Astrolabe AB The kinematic evolution of the West Antarctic rift system has important consequences for regional and global geodynamics. However, due to the lack of Neogene seafloor spreading at the plate boundary and despite being poorly resolved, East-West Antarctic motion was assumed to have ended abruptly at 26 million years ago. Here we present marine magnetic data collected near the northern edge of the rift system showing that motion between East and West Antarctica lasted until the middle Neogene (similar to 11 million years ago), long after the cessation of the known mid-Cenozoic pulse of motion. We calculate new rotation parameters for the early Neogene that provide the kinematic framework to understand the varied lithospheric settings of the Transantarctic Mountains and the tectono-volcanic activity within the rift. Incorporation of the Antarctic plate motion into the global plate circuit has major implications for the predicted Neogene motion of the Pacific Plate relative to the rest of the plates. PY 2018 PD AUG SO Nature Communications SN 2041-1723 PU Nature Publishing Group VL 9 IS 3189 UT 000441157600024 DI 10.1038/s41467-018-05270-w ID 80081 ER EF