In a groundbreaking discovery, scientists have uncovered an an Antarctica ancient landscape hidden beneath over a mile of ice in East Antarctica. This untouched landscape hidden beneath over a mile of ice in East Antarctica. The vast area, located in Wilkes Land, spans more than 12,000 square miles, roughly the size of Maryland, and has remained buried for at least 34 million years.
Using satellite imagery and ice-penetrating radar, researchers found a preserved world of towering ridges, deep valleys, and river-carved landscapes, remarkably intact due to the slow-moving, frigid ice sheet above, this Antarctica ancient landscape once featured flowing rivers, dense forests, and possibly even palm trees, suggesting a warm, temperate climate long before Antarctica became the icy expanse it is today.
“It’s like uncovering a time capsule,” said Professor Stewart Jamieson of Durham University, the study’s lead author. Past pollen discoveries along the Antarctic coast further support the idea of a once-lush environment that sharply contrasts with the current frozen desert.
How Antarctica Froze Over
The Antarctica ancient landscape offers clues to the climatic transformation that led to Antarctica’s glaciation. Roughly 34 million years ago, as Earth’s tectonic plates shifted, Antarctica drifted to the South Pole. This movement triggered powerful ocean currents that isolated the continent from warmer waters. Simultaneously, global carbon dioxide levels dropped, plunging the planet into a deep freeze.
According to researchers, this dual impact initiated the formation of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, which continues to dominate the continent today. The ice sheet in Wilkes Land is classified as “cold-based,” meaning it is frozen to the ground and moves extremely slowly, just 16 feet per year. This unique feature has prevented erosion, preserving the ancient landscape in stunning detail.
The study revealed three major elevated land blocks, measuring up to 105 miles long and 53 miles wide, separated by valleys nearly 3,900 feet deep. These features mirror the U-shaped formations typically sculpted by glacial movement, indicating that early glaciers played a role in shaping the terrain before it was entirely engulfed by ice roughly 14 million years ago.
Implications for Climate Research and the Future
The discovery of the Antarctica ancient landscape not only sheds light on the continent’s prehistoric past but also provides critical insights into how the ice sheet might respond to modern climate change. The researchers used computer models to trace landscape shifts, noting that some regions have risen by 1,600 feet under the immense weight of ice over millions of years.
“This landscape can tell us so much about the long-term history of the East Antarctic ice sheet,” said Professor Neil Ross of Newcastle University. “It also helps us understand how it might evolve in response to future warming.”
Despite occasional warm periods like the mid-Pliocene, this area remained frozen. However, with carbon dioxide levels and global temperatures rising, scientists caution that portions of the ice sheet could retreat in the future. Still, reaching this buried world would require drilling through over a mile of solid ice, a formidable task demanding time, technology, and resources.
Researchers plan to continue surveying the region to map its features more thoroughly and deepen our understanding of how the Antarctica ancient landscape has evolved and what it might reveal about Earth’s climate history.
