Postmiocene geodynamic evolution of the drake passage, Western Antarctic Region, southern ocean

In 1994–2006, the German research vessel, Polarstern, and the Russian research vessel, Akademik Boris Petrov, carried out marine geologic and geophysical explorations in the Western Antarctic Region within the Bellingshausen, Amundsen, and Scotia marginal Seas and the Drake Passage. In these expeditions, new unique data on submarine topography have been collected by a multibeam echosounder, gravity and magnetic measurements have been carried out, multichannel seismic profiling has been performed, and the collections of rock samples have been acquired. The analysis and interpretation of new evidence together with previous geologic and geophysical data for the Drake Passage region have shown that end of spreading in the Aluk Ridge three million years ago resulted in the redistribution of stresses associated with the relative motion of the Antarctic, Scotia, and Phoenix Plates, which, in turn, caused significant tectonic reconstruction of the entire transition zone of the Drake Passage.