Antarctic Shield

geology

Written by

The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last updated

June 18, 2026

Quick Summary

The Antarctic Shield is a stable, ancient geological region in East Antarctica composed of Precambrian crystalline rocks, dating back over 540 million years. This shield is considered a continental nucleus, similar to other shields found on continents worldwide.1

While much of the Antarctic Shield is hidden beneath ice sheets, geological studies reveal it is separated from the younger mobile belt of West Antarctica by the Transantarctic Mountains. East Antarctica, including the shield, shows affinities with the Gondwana region of India. The crust in East Antarctica averages about 25 miles thick. This ancient crust has undergone repeated cycles of deformation, uplift, and erosion throughout Earth's history.2

Summary created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

3 Britannica Sources

Ask Britannica AI about this topic

Britannica doesn't have a full article on this topic, so we've curated a list of our relevant coverage.

Antarctica
Structural framework
…structural provinces—a long, stable Precambrian shield in East Antarctica and a much younger Mesozoic and Cenozoic mobile belt in West Antarctica—separated by the fault-block belt, or horst, of the Transantarctic Mountains. East and West Antarctica have come to be known respectively as the Gondwana and Andean provinces, indicating general affinities…
Read More
…structural provinces—a long, stable Precambrian shield in East Antarctica and a much younger Mesozoic and Cenozoic mobile belt in West Antarctica—separated by the fault-block belt, or horst, of the Transantarctic Mountains. East and West Antarctica have come to be known respectively as the Gondwana and Andean provinces, indicating general affinities…
Read More

continental shield
…the Australian Shield, and the Antarctic Shield.
Read More
…the Australian Shield, and the Antarctic Shield.
Read More