The International Polar Year 2007-2009 has revitalised international geophysical and geological research over several frontiers in Antarctica and continues to provide a springboard for new interdisciplinary projects and longer-term initiatives.

The results of these investigations are significantly enhancing our ability to study: i) crustal and lithospheric architecture; ii) the processes of Antarctic geological evolution, including their broader interplays with Gondwana, Rodinia and Columbia supercontinental assembly and breakup; iii) the opening of ocean gateways surrounding the Antarctic continent; iv) the influence of geological boundary conditions on Antarctic cryosphere evolution and modern ice sheet dynamics.

This session aims to provide a broad international and interdisciplinary forum where results from geoscience projects (including recently launched ones) will be presented.

Examples include: airborne, marine and satellite exploration efforts; active and passive seismic studies; GPS and seismic networks; magnetotelluric and geomagnetic depth sounding arrays; structural geology and geochemical studies, thermochronology, and sediment provenance studies; regional and continental-scale compilations of geophysical and geological datasets; nmodels of crustal and lithospheric structure and geodynamic processes; models of tectonic and geodynamic controls on paleotopography, including their influence on ice sheet and climate evolution.