West Antarctica has formed the tectonically active margin between East Antarctica and the Pacific Ocean for almost half a billion years, where it has recorded a dynamic history of magmatism, continental growth and fragmentation. Despite the scale and importance of West Antarctica, there has not been an integrated view of the geology and tectonic evolution of the region as a whole. In this Review, we identify three broad physiographic provinces and present their overlapping and interconnected tectonic, magmatic and sedimentary history. The Weddell Sea region, which lays furthest from the subducting margin, was most impacted by the Jurassic initiation of Gondwana break-up. Marie Byrd Land and the West Antarctic rift system developed as a broad Cretaceous to Cenozoic continental rift system, reworking a former convergent margin. Finally, the Antarctic Peninsula and Thurston Island preserve an almost complete magmatic arc system. We conclude by briefly summarizing the geologic history of the West Antarctic system as a whole, how it provides insight into continental margin evolution and what key topics must be addressed by future research.

西南极洲已在东南极洲和太平洋之间形成了构造活跃的边缘，将近十亿年，那里记录了活跃的岩浆作用，大陆增长和破碎的历史。尽管南极洲具有规模和重要性，但对整个地区的地质和构造演化还没有一个统一的看法。在这篇评论中，我们确定了三个广阔的地理省份，并提出了它们相互重叠和相互联系的构造，岩浆和沉积历史。距俯冲边缘最远的韦德尔海地区受到冈瓦纳解体的侏罗纪爆发的最大影响。玛丽·伯德·兰德（Marie Byrd Land）和西南极裂谷系统发展成为从白垩纪到新生代的大陆裂谷系统，重塑了以前的收敛边缘。最后，南极半岛和瑟斯顿岛保留了几乎完整的岩浆弧系统。最后，我们简要概述了整个西南极洲的地质历史，如何提供对大陆边缘演化的洞察力以及未来研究必须解决的关键主题。