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Gravity does not pull equally everywhere on Earth. Variations in the planet’s internal structure create measurable differences in how strongly it tugs at the surface. The weakest region lies beneath Antarctica.
In a study published in Scientific Reports, researchers show that this continent-scale gravitational low strengthened over tens of millions of years as rock deep inside Earth slowly shifted. The change coincides with a pivotal climatic transition, when Antarctica began developing the ice sheets that still shape it today. “If we can better understand how Earth’s interior shapes gravity and sea levels, we gain insight into factors that may matter for the growth and stability of large ice sheets,” said Alessandro Forte, a co-author of the new study, in a press release. Read More: Antarctica’s Ice Sheet Shrouds a Vast Landscape of Alpine Valleys and Ice Rivers What Is Antarctica’s Gravity Hole? Earth’s gravity reflects how mass is arranged inside the planet. Denser rock pulls slightly harder; lighter or hotter material pulls less. The differences are subtle, but satellites can measure them with remarkable precision. The Antarctic gravity low is one of the most extensive of such anomalies on the planet. Even after accounting for Earth’s rotation — which slightly redistributes mass and affects surface gravity — the region beneath Antarctica remains weaker than the global average. Gravity also helps shape the oceans. Where the pull is weaker, seawater shifts toward stronger regions. As a result, the sea surface around Antarctica sits slightly lower relative to Earth’s center than it otherwise would, a difference measured in centimeters, but driven by processes thousands of kilometers below the surface. Researchers have mapped this gravity low for years using satellite missions designed to measure Earth’s gravitational field. What they didn’t know was how it developed, or whether it changed as Antarctica’s climate shifted. Using Earthquakes to Model the Interior To trace that history, researchers turned to global earthquake data collected over decades. As seismic waves move through Earth, their speed changes depending on temperature and density. By analyzing recordings from earthquakes around the world, scientists can assemble a three-dimensional image of the planet’s interior. “Imagine doing a CT scan of the whole Earth, but we don’t have X-rays like we do in a medical office. We have earthquakes. Earthquake waves provide the ‘light’ that illuminates the interior of the planet,” Forte said. Using this framework, the team reconstructed rock density beneath Antarctica and calculated the gravity field that those structures would produce. The modeled gravity map closely matched high-precision satellite measurements — strong evidence that the reconstruction captured the planet’s interior accurately. With that validation in place, the researchers ran the model backward through geological time, simulating how mantle material would have flowed and rearranged over tens of millions of years. Reconstructing 70 Million Years of Change Computer simulations tracking the slow circulation of mantle rock allowed the team to reconstruct how Antarctica’s gravity field evolved over the past 70 million years. The gravitational low was once weaker. Between roughly 50 million and 30 million years ago, it intensified as deeper mantle structures shifted position. That window overlaps with the onset of widespread Antarctic glaciation, when sustained cooling allowed large ice sheets to form and stabilize. The study does not show that mantle changes caused the ice to grow. But the parallel timing suggests that deep-Earth processes may have influenced sea level, continental elevation, or boundary conditions that affected ice-sheet stability. The next step is to model those connections more directly, linking gravity, sea level, and uplift in a single framework. At its core, the research returns to a fundamental question: “How does our climate connect to what’s going on inside our planet?” Forte said. Read More: An Asteroid Just Streaked Over Antarctica, Becoming the Second Closest Flyby Ever Recorded Article Sources Our writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article: This article references information from a recent study published in Scientific Reports: Cenozoic evolution of earth’s strongest geoid low illuminates mantle dynamics beneath Antarctica
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