Bulgarian Antarctic Institute

Abstract The relevance of education and outreach (E&O) activities about the Antarctic Treaty has been recognized at the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings (ATCM) and at the Committee for Environmental Protection (CEP). This study examines the key topics and the target audiences detailed in papers submitted to the ATCM on E&O. Since the Antarctic Treaty entered into force in 1961, a total of 216 ATCM papers on E&O have been produced. The number of papers has increased substantially since the mid-1990s. ‘Science’ (76.9%) and ‘Wildlife/Biodiversity/Environment’ (75.5%) were the most addressed topics in these papers, while the ‘Public’ (81.0%) and those attending ‘Schools’ (69.0%) are the main target audiences. ‘Science’ in ATCM papers increased ~120-fold from 1961–1997 to 2015–2023, while ATCM papers discussing engagement with the ‘Public’ increased ~40-fold during the same period. ‘Climate change’ was first mentioned in 2006, and the number of papers per year increased fourfold by 2015–2023. This study shows the increasing interest in E&O through time, addressing key topics to relevant audiences related to the Antarctic region. From an educational perspective, attention should be paid to emerging topics (e.g. equity, diversity and inclusion), and the engagement of early-career professionals and educators should be made a priority.

The Lower Cretaceous to Miocene South Shetlands Islands’ volcanic arc is a result of the subduction of the Phoenix Oceanic Microplate (part of the Pacific Plate) beneath the Antarctic Peninsula. The magmatic activity on Livingston Island has been going on for a long time: since the Early Cretaceous to the present. The evolution of the volcanic arc resulted in the formation of various sedimentary basins and paleoenvironments (turbiditic to shallow marine and continental) that formed varied sedimentary successions and tholeiitic to potassium calc-alkaline subduction-related magmatic rocks. Considering the magmatic activity on Livingston Island, a general trend of rejuvenation can be observed from the WNW (Byers Peninsula) to the ESE (to Hannah Point, Point Williams and further to the Hurd Peninsula and the Tangra Mountain). The rejuvenation of the magmatic rocks in the direction of the thrust plate can be explained as an effect of a flattening subduction that was active from the Early Cretaceous (135 Ma) up to around 90–70 Ma. The mixed ages of the dikes and small intrusions in the Hurd Peninsula are most probably due to periods of rotation and probably beginning of а slab-roll back. A regional Paleocene–Eocene (65–47 Ma) compressional episode that caused a low temperature to high-pressure metamorphism is registered on Smith and Elephant islands. The regional metamorphism was followed by a vast extension between 50–30 Ma that culminated with the opening of the Drake Passage around 34–30 Ma. The magmatic response of that regional scale extension was the intrusion of the Eocene Barnard Point Pluton (46–40 Ma) and dikes with youngest ages of around 30 Ma. The major uplift phase and the exhumation of the Tangra Mountain happened between 22–16 Ma as indicated by the Ap FT thermochronology. The last magmatic event on the island produced the contrastingly different in composition Quaternary alkaline mafic rocks that occupy the area between Innot Point and Burdick Peak. This episode is interpreted as related to a process of crustal extension that culminated in asthenospheric upwelling and rifting along the Bransfield Strait. The latter is due to a slab roll-back that led to the break-up of the South Shetlands from the Antarctic Peninsula and consequent subduction termination.