This paper describes the deformation that occurred in the Paleoproterozoic terrains of the Terre Adélie Craton (East Antartica) at ca. 1.69 Ga. The structural pattern is marked by sub-vertical deformation zones, trending N340­360°, that rework sub-horizontal fabrics. Both types of structures developed under similar partial melting conditions (thermal and pressure peaks around 700­750 °C and 500­600 MPa, respectively) and are in part coeval. Vertical zones show kinematic indicators of dextral transpression. Strike-slip components appear to increase in intensity from W to E, toward the contact between Paleoproterozoic terrains and Archaean blocks located to the East. Flat-lying foliations bear stretching lineations, which strike N340­360°, at low-angle to the transpressional shear zones and to the boundaries between major units. Structural and metamorphic signatures are consistent with a model in which hot and weak continental domains converge toward a stiffer craton. Horizontal shortening was accommodated along vertical transpressional zones. Thickening combined with significant magmatic input might have triggered gravity-driven horizontal crustal flow at high angle to the convergence direction.