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Researchers Find Ancient World of Forests and Rivers Under Antarctica's Ice
- Scientists discovered a vast ancient landscape of hills, valleys, rivers, and forests beneath more than a mile of ice in East Antarctica's Wilkes Land in 2017.
- The terrain developed before Antarctica experienced its initial extensive glaciation around the time when the supercontinent Gondwana started to break apart over 34 million years in the past.
- The researchers identified three substantial elevated landmasses, each extending roughly between 75 and 105 miles in length and reaching widths of up to 53 miles, separated by valleys about 25 miles across and nearly 3,900 feet deep.
- Professor Stewart Jamieson described the finding as "like uncovering a time capsule," adding the land beneath East Antarctica is less explored than Mars, and samples suggest a warmer, forested ancient environment.
- Scientists aim to study this preserved landscape to better understand past changes and improve forecasts of Antarctic ice melt and climate evolution amid global warming threats.
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Researchers find ancient world of forests and rivers under Antarctica's ice
Antarctica wasn’t always a frozen landscape. In fact, it may have once featured lush forests, palm trees, and rivers, according to new research published in the journal Nature Communications. “This finding is like opening a time capsule,” Professor Stewart Jamieson, who co-authored the study, told The Economic Times. Groundbreaking study Researchers began the study in 2017, extracting sediment from the once-thriving ecosystem frozen in time for…
The site was discovered by a satellite system with RADARSAT technology, which detected an ancient river valley the size of Wales hidden under the ice of Antarctica.
·Madrid, Spain
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Total News Sources14
Leaning Left1Leaning Right3Center3Last UpdatedBias Distribution43% Center, 43% Right
Bias Distribution
- 43% of the sources are Center, 43% of the sources lean Right
43% Right
14%
C 43%
R 43%
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