Science
Scientists Uncover 34-Million-Year-Old River Network Beneath Antarctic Ice
Scientists have discovered a vast secret environment beneath a mile of Antarctic ice that hasn’t seen sunshine in over 34 million years. It is made up of old valleys and ridges that may have once been home to rivers, forests, and life.
Buried deep within Wilkes Land in East Antarctica, the area was discovered by researchers using ice-penetrating radar and satellite imaging. For more than 34 million years, it has remained nearly undisturbed, frozen in place by frigid, seldom moving ice, and spans an area of around 12,000 square miles, or roughly the size of Maryland.
“This finding is like opening a time capsule,” said Professor Stewart Jamieson, a geologist at Durham University and lead author of the study, published in Nature Communications.
Lost World Unearthed Beneath Antarctica Ice After 34 Million Years
The group discovered three enormous, elevated land pieces that were 75–105 miles long and connected by huge valleys that were over 25 miles wide and nearly 3,900 feet deep. These characteristics imply that before the region was covered by an ice sheet tens of millions of years ago, it was formerly sculpted by flowing rivers and may have even had a lot of vegetation.
The ice in this region of Antarctica travels so slowly that the land below has hardly been affected, in contrast to other glaciers that grind and flatten the soil beneath them. The end product is an image of ancient Earth preserved in almost immaculate shape.
“The land underneath the East Antarctic ice sheet is less well-known than the surface of Mars,” Jamieson told MailOnline. “We’re investigating a small part of that landscape in more detail to see what it can tell us about the evolution of the landscape and the evolution of the ice sheet.”
According to Newcastle University co-author Professor Neil Ross, the study may also contribute in forecasting Antarctica’s potential reactions to future climate change.
Drilling is the next frontier. According to scientists, excavating this buried world may yield organic matter, soil, and environmental hints about a warmer, greener Antarctica before it became into the frozen colossus it is today.
Finding a primordial Earth carved into a continent’s bottom is not something you see very often. One thing is certain from this discovery, though: the planet still contains mysteries, some of which are buried deep beneath ice.
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