Abstract The Gamburtsev Subglacial Mountains (GSM), located in the central part of East Antarctica, have become the subject of great scientific interest because the mechanism driving the uplift of the range, which resembles younger mountain ranges in shape, in the middle of the old Antarctic Plate is unknown. The next step planned in the exploration of the GSM will be focused on direct examination of the ice sheet bed by drilling. The use of cable-suspended drilling technology is proposed. All of the drilling equipment will be installed inside a movable, sledge-mounted, temperature-controlled, and wind-protected drilling shelter and workshop connected by steel pathway. To drill through ice and bedrock, a new version of the cable-suspended ice and bedrock electromechanical drill was designed and tested. During the 2017–18 season, the drilling shelter and workshop will be assembled near the Zhongshan Station and first field tests will be carried out. Drilling for bedrock on the GSM is planned as soon as full financial and logistical support is obtained for the project.

Abstract The Antarctic rock record spans some 3.5 billion years of history, and has made important contributions to our understanding of how Earth's continents assemble and disperse through time. Correlations between Antarctica and other southern continents were critical to the concept of Gondwana, the Palaeozoic supercontinent used to support early arguments for continental drift, while evidence for Proterozoic connections between Antarctica and North America led to the ‘SWEAT’ configuration (linking SW USA to East Antarctica) for an early Neoproterozoic supercontinent known as Rodinia. Antarctica also contains relicts of an older Palaeo- to Mesoproterozoic supercontinent known as Nuna, along with several Archaean fragments that belonged to one or more ‘supercratons’ in Neoarchaean times. It thus seems likely that Antarctica contains remnants of most, if not all, of Earth's supercontinents, and Antarctic research continues to provide insights into their palaeogeography and geological evolution. One area of research is the latest Neoproterozoic–Mesozoic active margin of Gondwana, preserved in Antarctica as the Ross Orogen and a number of outboard terranes that now form West Antarctica. Major episodes of magmatism, deformation and metamorphism along this palaeo-Pacific margin at 590–500 and 300–230 Ma can be linked to reduced convergence along the internal collisional orogens that formed Gondwana and Pangaea, respectively; indicating that accretionary systems are sensitive to changes in the global plate tectonic budget. Other research has focused on Grenville-age ( c. 1.0 Ga) and Pan-African ( c. 0.5 Ga) metamorphism in the East Antarctic Craton. These global-scale events record the amalgamation of Rodinia and Gondwana, respectively. Three coastal segments of Grenville-age metamorphism in the Indian Ocean sector of Antarctica are each linked to the c. 1.0 Ga collision between older cratons but are separated by two regions of pervasive Pan-African metamorphism ascribed to Neoproterozoic ocean closure. The tectonic setting of these events is poorly constrained given the sparse exposure, deep erosion level and likelihood that younger metamorphic events have reactivated older structures. The projection of these orogens under the ice is also controversial, but it is likely that at least one of the Pan-African orogens links up with the Shackleton Range on the palaeo-Pacific margin of the craton. Sedimentary detritus and glacial erratics at the edge of the ice sheet provide evidence for the c. 1.0 and 0.5 Ga orogenesis in the continental interior, while geophysical data reveal prominent geological boundaries under the ice, but there are insufficient data to trace these features to exposed structures of known age. Until we can resolve the subglacial geometry and tectonic setting of the c. 0.5 and 1.0 Ga metamorphism, there will be no consensus on the configuration of Rodinia, or the size and shape of the continents that existed immediately before and after this supercontinent. Given this uncertainty, it is premature to speculate on the role of Antarctica in earlier supercontinents, but it is likely that Antarctica will continue to provide important constraints when our attention shifts to these earlier events.

Abstract The Prince Charles Mountains (PCM)–Prydz Bay region in East Antarctica experienced the late Mesoproterozoic/early Neoproterozoic ( c. 1000–900 Ma) and late Neoproterozoic/Cambrian ( c. 550–500 Ma) tectonothermal events. The late Mesoproterozoic/early Neoproterozoic tectonothermal event dominates the Rayner Complex and spreads over the main part of the Prydz Belt. This event includes two episodes (or stages) of metamorphism accompanying the intrusion of syn- to post-orogenic granitoids at c. 1000–960 Ma and c. 940–900 Ma. The c. 1000–960 Ma metamorphism in the northern PCM and Mawson Coast records medium- to low-pressure granulite facies conditions accompanied by a near-isobaric cooling path, whereas the c. 940–900 Ma metamorphism in Kemp Land reaches relatively higher P – T conditions followed by a near-isothermal decompression or decompressive cooling path. The late Mesoproterozoic/early Neoproterozoic orogeny (i.e. the Rayner orogeny) involved a long-lived ( c. 1380–1020 Ma) magmatic accretion along continental/oceanic arcs and a protracted or two-stage collision of the Indian craton with a portion of East Antarctica, forming the Indian–Antarctic continental block independent of the Rodinia supercontinent. The late Neoproterozoic/Cambrian tectonothermal event pervasively overprinted on both Archaean–Proterozoic basements and cover sequences in the Prydz Belt. Except for high-pressure granulite boulders from the Grove Mountains, the metamorphism of most rocks records medium-pressure granulite facies conditions with a clockwise P–T path. In contrast, this event is lower grade (greenschist–amphibolite facies) and localized in the PCM. Regionally, the late Neoproterozoic/Cambrian tectonothermal event seems to have developed on the southeastern margin of the Indo-Antarctic continental block, suggesting that the major suture should be located southeastwards of the presently exposed Prydz Belt. The precise dating for different rock types reveals that the late Neoproterozoic/Cambrian orogeny (i.e. the Prydz orogeny) commenced at c. 570 Ma and lasted until c. 490 Ma, which is roughly contemporaneous with the late collisional stage of the Brasiliano/Pan-African orogenic systems in Gondwanaland. Therefore, the final assembly of the Gondwana supercontinent may have been completed by the collision of a number of cratonic blocks during the same time period.