The article presents the results of experimental and methodological work on the use of magnetotelluric sounding in the area of ​​the Russian Progress Station (Princess Elizabeth Land, East Antarctica). The research was accomplished by a field team from the Saint Petersburg Mining University in the course of the 71st Russian Antarctic Expedition (2025-2026) and is a continuation of the comprehensive geological and geophysical studies of East Antarctica. The main focus is on the practical application of the method in high polar latitudes. Issues related to ensuring the operability of the equipment, fieldwork logistics, and the influence of physiographic conditions on measurements are considered. The study of the geological structure of the Antarctic continent is complicated by the occurrence of a thick ice sheet which ensures the leading role of geophysical methods in solving this problem. The article presents the results of practical application of the Russian Nord electrical prospecting hardware-software measurement system and the Canadian MTU-5A together with preamplifiers designed to compensate for a high grounding contact resistance. The experimental and methodological survey line is laid across the Amery lineament, a large linear magnetic anomaly extending sublatitudinally for over 500 km. A comprehensive interpretation of magnetotelluric data and the anomalous magnetic field was accomplished. A resistivity section was constructed using a two-dimensional inversion, and a direct problem for the magnetic field was solved. As a result, a model is proposed for the structure of the Proterozoic suture zone, the rocks of which create a positive anomaly in the magnetic field. In the resistivity section, the anomalies with increased conductivity at depths below 10 km correspond to this structure. The obtained data create new opportunities for studying the deep structure and geodynamics of the East Antarctica.

The article analyses the results of geophysical studies of rift structures in East Antarctic, direct geological surveying of which is impossible due to a thick ice sheet. A model is proposed for the formation of Lake Vostok depression suggesting its emplacement within the regional transtensional zone. The Lake basin includes the southern longitudinal graben forming along the main shear and the northwestern basin, which is estimated as a pull-apart structure. Based on results of the gravity and magnetic field interpretation proposed in the article, the identification and parameters of the interblock suture zone in the basement of the coastal part of the subglacial Lake Vostok are substantiated. Similarities in the structure of the Earth’s crust of regional and local structures containing Lakes Vostok and Baikal have been recorded for a large number of features: spatial correlation with position of regional shear zones; geniculate morphology of lake basins composed of linear longitudinal depressions parallel to direction of the shear zone and depressions controlled by diagonal fault displacements; relief of adjacent structures; steepness of coasts; high seismicity with earthquakes localized along the main axes of fault displacements as well as the Earth’s crust structure of geostructures controlling these basins. The formation model of rift structures of East Antarctic localized along subparallel shear zones is presented. To explain the geodynamic nature of rift systems, the model of the upper mantle convective cell is used. The Vostok, Scott, Aurora, Concordia, Adventure, Wilkes, and Astrolabe depressions form an extensive tectonic zone approximately 2,000 km long and 1,500 km wide. Tectonic schemes showing localization of the East Antarctic rift system as well as depressions of the Mesozoic West Transbaikal rift area and the Cenozoic Baikal-Stanovoi rift zone are presented.