West Antarctic Rift System

Beneath the floor of the Ross Sea four rift basins have been detected by marine seismic reflections surveys.

[5] Rift basins have been mapped under the West Antarctic Ice Sheet[6] including the Bentley Subglacial Trench.

[8] The first phase happened in the east near Marie Byrd Land[4] before the Campbell Plateau of Zealandia broke away from Antarctica in the Late Cretaceous.

[7] A third phase is related to 170–180 kilometers of Eocene and Oligocene seafloor spreading in the western parts of the embayment on the Adare Trough or basin in the deep-sea.

[16] Displacement including minor extension in the western WARS and Ross Embayment computed from reconstruction of oceanic magnetic anomalies ended 11 million years ago.

[7] Faulting within the Terror Rift, located in the Victoria Land Basin, continued after 11 Ma, and probably into or through Quaternary time.