ABSTRACT The geomorphology of the hidden subglacial landscape of Antarctica is relevant to our understanding of the stability of the Antarctic Ice Sheet and also to that of global interactions between plate tectonics and surface processes. We believe that geomorphology has much to contribute, but that the lack of coherent hypotheses about the origins of the subglacial landscape is holding back understanding. This paper approaches the problem by using southern hemisphere land masses in Africa and Madagascar as analogues. We find that the Antarctic landscape evolved in a similar way to passive margin evolution in southern Africa. Rifting associated with the breakup of Gondwana changed river base levels and caused rapid erosion on the flanks of rifts and was accompanied by the uplift of rift-margin mountains. Rift-margin plains, often coastal or extending inland along large rivers, are backed by an escarpment, while low-gradient continental river basins characterised the interior of Antarctica. In East Antarctica ice has removed pre-existing regolith from lowlands and excavated 2–3 km troughs below sea level along the course of major trunk rivers. The micro-continents of West Antarctica are comparable to Madagascar and apparently share a similar topography with coastal plains, backing escarpments and interior plateaux.

中文翻译：

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南极洲冰川前景观

摘要南极洲隐藏的冰下景观的地貌与我们对南极冰盖稳定性的理解以及板块构造和表面过程之间的全球相互作用的理解有关。我们相信地貌学有很大贡献，但缺乏关于冰下景观起源的连贯假设阻碍了理解。本文通过使用非洲和马达加斯加的南半球陆地作为类似物来解决这个问题。我们发现南极景观的演化方式与南部非洲的被动边缘演化相似。与冈瓦纳大陆分裂相关的裂谷改变了河流的底面，导致裂谷两侧的快速侵蚀，并伴随裂谷边缘山脉的隆起。裂谷边缘平原，通常沿海或沿大河向内陆延伸，背靠悬崖，而低梯度大陆河流域则是南极洲内陆的特征。在南极洲东部，冰层已经从低地移除了先前存在的风化层，并沿着主要干流河道在海平面以下挖掘了 2-3 公里的海槽。南极洲西部的微大陆可与马达加斯加相媲美，显然与沿海平原、背脊悬崖和内陆高原有着相似的地形。