A new way to discover what lies beneath the ancient icecaps of Antarctica has revealed
valleys... Under the Radar: Unearthing
Antarctica's Surface below 10,000 Feet of Ice Surprisingly, nobody had thought to use radar to see below the 10, 000ft thick ice. They've
discovered Alpine-style valleys that cover an area as large as New York State. In essence the ice hasn't changed a bit in 43million years. What's
contained in that ice can tell us all about atmospheric conditions and even asteroid and meteorite impacts.
What got my imagination is what evidence of life might lie beneath the ice? 50 millions years ago, Antarctica was connected to proto-S. America and
Australia. It was covered by a sub-tropical tree canopy. As it
gradually split away, S. America had a wide range of critters that would have been living in the Antarctic forests. Before the 43 million years, the
Antarctic would also have enjoyed the company of dinosaurs.
Polar forests were quite extensive. Fossils and even preserved remains of trees such as swamp cypress and dawn redwood from the Eocene have been
found on Ellesmere Island in the Arctic. The preserved remains are not fossils, but actual pieces preserved in oxygen-poor water in the swampy forests
of the time and then buried before they had the chance to decompose.
Representation of what it might have looked like
I wonder if similarly preserved critters might be found down there? Imagine the Otzi equivalent of dinosaurs? The only reasonable way of finding out
would be tunneling. If the land isn't covered in ice, it's safe to guess that global warming has done for us and we all live in dinghies or breathe
through our fat necks 
|
inosaurs of Antarctica
by the lack of attention it had. Finally a down to Earth mystery and it's not getting any ?? 
