East Antarctica remains one of the few continental regions on Earth where an understanding of the origin and causal processes responsible for topographic relief is largely missing. Low‐temperature thermochronology studies of exposed Precambrian basement revealed discrete episodes of cooling and denudation during the Paleozoic-Mesozoic; however, the significance of these thermal events and their relationship to topography across the continental interior remains unclear. Here we use zircon and apatite (U‐Th)/He thermochronology to resolve the low‐temperature thermal evolution of a poorly exposed section of East Antarctic basement in the Bunger Hills region and gain insights into the chronology and style of landscape evolution across East Antarctica. Thermal history modeling results indicate that Precambrian basement in the Bunger Hills region experienced a distinct cooling episode during the Late Paleozoic-Triassic, which we relate to ~2-4 km of regional exhumation associated with intracontinental rifting, followed by a second episode of localized cooling and ≤1 km exhumation during the Late Jurassic-Cretaceous separation of India from East Gondwana. These findings, combined with existing thermochronological and tectonic evidence, support a continent‐scale denudation event associated with uplift and exhumation of large sections of Precambrian basement during Late Paleozoic-Triassic Pangea‐wide intracontinental extension. By contrast, continental extension associated with the Jurassic-Cretaceous breakup of East Gondwana resulted in significant denudation only locally in regions west of the Bunger Hills. We propose that the combined effects of these Paleozoic-Mesozoic tectonic events had a profound impact on the topography across the East Antarctic interior and influenced the long‐term landscape evolution of East Antarctica.

中文翻译：

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盘古裂谷塑造了南极东部景观

东南极洲仍然是地球上为数不多的大陆地区之一，在这些地区，对地形起伏的起源和因果过程的了解在很大程度上是缺失的。暴露的前寒武纪基底的低温热年代学研究揭示了古生代-中生代期间不连续的冷却和剥蚀事件；然而，这些热事件的重要性及其与整个大陆内部地形的关系仍不清楚。在这里，我们使用锆石和磷灰石 (U-Th)/He 热年代学来解决邦格山地区南极东部基底暴露不良部分的低温热演化，并深入了解南极东部景观演化的年代和风格. 热历史模型结果表明，邦格山地区的前寒武纪基底在晚古生代 - 三叠纪期间经历了明显的冷却事件，我们将其与约 2-4 公里的与大陆内裂谷相关的区域剥脱有关，然后是第二次局部冷却事件和 ≤ 1 km 在印度从东冈瓦纳分离的晚侏罗世 - 白垩世分离过程中。这些发现与现有的热年代学和构造证据相结合，支持了与晚古生代-三叠纪泛大陆内伸展期间前寒武纪基底大段抬升和剥蚀相关的大陆尺度剥蚀事件。相比之下，与东冈瓦纳的侏罗纪-白垩纪断裂有关的大陆扩张导致仅在邦格山以西地区的局部显着剥蚀。我们认为，这些古生代-中生代构造事件的综合影响对南极东部内陆的地形产生了深远的影响，并影响了东南极洲的长期景观演变。