The Bellingshausen Plate was an ancient tectonic plate that fused on to the Antarctic Plate. It is named after the Russian explorer of Antarctica Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen. The tectonic plates of the world were mapped in the second half of the 20th century. ... The Antarctic plate is shown in blue on this map The Antarctic Plate is a continental tectonic plate covering the continent of Antarctica and extending outward under the surrounding oceans. ... Fabian Gottlieb Thaddeus von Bellingshausen (Russian: ; Faddey Faddeyevich Bellinsgauzen) (September 20, 1778–January 13, 1852) served as a naval officer of the Russian Empire and commanded the second Russian expedition to circumnavigate the globe. ...

The plate was in existence during the Late Cretaceous and early Tertiary periods adjacent to eastern Marie Byrd Land. Independent plate motion ceased at 61 mya. The boundaries are poorly defined. The Cretaceous Period is one of the major divisions of the geologic timescale, reaching from the end of the Jurassic Period (i. ... For other uses, see Tertiary (disambiguation). ... Map of Antarctica Marie Byrd Land is the portion of Antarctica lying east of the Ross Ice Shelf and the Ross Sea and south of the Pacific Ocean, extending eastward approximately to a line between the head of the Ross Ice Shelf and Eights Coast. ...

References

• Eagles, G., K. Gohl and R. D. Larter (2004) Life of the Bellingshausen plate, Geophysical Research Letters, 31, L07603 Abstract
• McCarron, Joe J. and Robert D. Larter, Late Cretaceous to early Tertiary subduction history of the Antarctic Peninsula, Journal of the Geological Society, March 1998