The role that mantle processes plays on the tectonic development of continents, particularly with regards to rifting and volcanism, is a subject of ongoing discussion.  Beneath Antarctica, many have suggested that a lower mantle plume has influenced the rifting and volcanism beneath the West Antarctic Rift System, the volcanism and high topography of the West Antarctic Marie Byrd Land dome, or the high elevations of East Antarctica.  With recent expansion of temporary seismic networks in Antarctica, more detailed maps of mantle structure in these regions from seismic tomography have been obtained. However, traditional seismic tomography methods suffer from a lack of resolution at mantle transition zone depths.  In this lecture, I will discuss my use of seismic receiver functions to obtain complementary information about the position of seismic discontinuities at the mantle transition zone to determine whether a case can be made for thermal mantle plumes.  I will present my results that lend support for thermal anomalies within the mantle transition zone beneath West Antarctica, and I will discuss my new work suggesting that the high elevations of the East Antarctic polar plateau are not explained by a thermal anomaly at mantle transition zone depths.  Additionally, I will discuss my observations that are consistent with a history of subduction-related hydration within the Antarctic mantle transition zone.