Antarctic Geosphere Evolution (AGE)

Antarctica hosts one of Earth’s least understood continental lithospheres, yet its structure and long-term evolution exert a fundamental control on ice-sheet behaviour and Earth-system processes. This contribution introduces the new 8-year SCAR Scientific Research Programme Antarctic Geosphere Evolution (AGE) and its central concept of 4D geological evolution, integrating spatial heterogeneity and temporal change in lithospheric and crustal architecture, tectonic inheritance, and geodynamics.
AGE aims to quantify how the heterogeneous Antarctic lithosphere governs geothermal heat flow, subglacial hydrology, and sedimentary and topographic basal boundary conditions, thereby modulating past, present, and future ice-sheet sensitivity to climate change. By combining geological, geophysical, and geochemical observations with advanced data integration and numerical modelling, AGE will provide improved, uncertainty-aware constraints on key parameters controlling basal melting, ice flow, and grounding-line stability.
Beyond cryospheric processes, AGE addresses solid Earth fluxes—including sediment, dust, and geo-nutrients—that connect the geosphere with the hydrosphere, biosphere, and atmosphere, influencing Southern Ocean productivity, biogeochemical cycling, and climate feedbacks.
Through international coordination, synthesis of legacy datasets, and targeted acquisition of new observations, AGE will develop integrated 4D models of lithospheric evolution and Earth-system interactions. These will provide improved boundary conditions for next-generation ice-sheet and climate models and advance understanding of how deep Earth processes influence Antarctic change in the roadmap towards the 5th International Polar Year.

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