Development of the Circum-Antarctic Current

• Published in: Science
• Main Authors: Kennett, J. P., Houtz, R. E., Andrews, P. B., Edwards, A. R., Gostin, V. A., Hajos, M., Hampton, M. A., Jenkins, D. G., Margolis, S. V., Ovenshine, A. T., Perch-Nielsen, K.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 1974
• Subjects: Antarctic; New Zealand; South Tasman Rise; Southern Ocean; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.186.4159.144; https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.186.4159.144

Deep-sea drilling in the Southern Ocean south of Australia and New Zealand shows that the Circum-Antarctic Current developed about 30 million years ago in the middle to late Oligocene when final separation occurred between Antarctica and the continental South Tasman Rise. Australia had commenced drifting northward from Antarctica 20 million years before this.