Is antarctica floating, or is it anchored to the bottom of the ocean? If so, how?If not, why doesn't it move?

Question

If it is anchored, how much land is underneath? If the ice melted, would land be above water?

Has anyone ever explored the ocean underneath Antarctica?

I apologize. I should have been more specific. I meant "Is Antarctica floating on the WATER?" Water, as in the Ocean. I am not referring to techtonic (sp?) plates.

And I meant that if the ice on Antarctica melted, would the land in Antarctica, which is currently under the ice, be above the water?

Or simply put, is the land in Antarctica above sea level?

Answer 1

Certainly YES! Antarctica, alike other continents, is a projection of earth's crust above the oceans.

There were dinosaurs living in the poles, which indicates that Antarctica was well above sea level in prehistoric times.

Refer: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/prehistoric_life/dinosaurs/chronology/106mya1.shtml

Answer 2

Okay, now you have your ideas all confused. Continent crust does not float on oceanic crust. The crust "floats" on the mantle. Antarctica is a continent, much like North America or Asia, so there is no ocean to explore under it. If the ice melted most of Antarctica would remain above sea level, although low-lying areas would be submerged. The crust is around 35 kilometers thick, although there is a rift zone in Antarctica where the crust is much thinner, maybe 15 kilometers thick. Oh, and it does move, just as do all the various plates that make up the crust of the Earth.

Answer 3

Antarctica is a continent and it has mountain ranges etc...if all the ice melted much of it would be exposed and above sea level .....Also one must realise that the south pole is only its present position since it is an active plate that has moved into the polar position and somewhere in geologic time it may move on out and be replaced by another plate and ensuing land mass

Answer 4

The Earth is a ball of molten rock many 1000's of miles thick, with a skinny layer of sturdy, rocky 'crust' masking the outdoors like the floor on an apple. The oceans sit down on precise of this crust, and continents type the place the crust pokes above sea point. So no, the continents do not choose the flow. they're purely the bits of the Earth's sturdy crust that are severe sufficient that they stick above water. think of of it this way. in case you throw a rock right into a puddle, it sinks. So needless to say a rock the size of a continent would desire to not be floating around on the sea.

Answer 5

Antarctica is a continent just like North America is. It is part of the earth's crust. But it does have huge, vast amounts of ice, of which can be a mile thick in places. These ice shelfs do indeed move, for example the Ross Ice Shelf, although very slowly.

Answer 6

It is a land mass, it is not ANCHORED to the ocean floor it is just one big land mass. It looks like it is a large mass of ice but it isn't, it is called frozen land so there really is land underneath that huge pile of ice.

Yes, land will be underwater if it all melted, but only high land like mountains will still be dry but lower land will be sunk, but don't worry, it's slow...

Answer 7

there is actually land under all the ice which is why antarctica is a continent and the northern arctic circle isnt a continent!

Answer 8

there has been seismic mapping done on the land mass under the ice (personal note I heard that the land mass is similar to an ancient map in Spain of Atlantis )

Answer 9

i belive its floating slowly just as all the other continents its just so slow of a drift probly connected by some plates as they call them and moves as the earth shifts .