Studies conducted during the International Polar year demonstrated that ancient plate collisions produced a core that was rejuvenated in the early to mid-Mesozoic [1].

[6] Current models suggest that the East Antarctic ice sheet was formed from the glaciers that began sliding down the Gamburtsev range at the end of the Eocene.

[7] As part of the 2007–09 International Polar Year, so called, the AGAP project was a multinational effort to gather information about the Gamburtsev mountain chain.

[5] Despite the extreme temperatures — around −30 °C at the two base camps as reported by AGAP US co-leader Dr Robin Bell — liquid water was detected in the valleys three kilometres beneath the team.

"[5] By December, 2009, data analyzed so far from the AGAP project indicate the mountain range is generally oriented southwest to northeast, and arose from tectonic plate activity.

This early range was eroded above the surface but left a deep cold root, which is visible today in seismic images,[13] reaching down into the Earth's mantle.

Around 35 million years ago, the glaciers merged to form the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, burying the Gamburtsev Range in the process.