8 ms·
Evidence of 90M-year-old rainforest uncovered beneath Antarctic ice
- julienchastang 7y agoOn this topic, check out the recent PBS Nova: Polar Extremes which discusses the climatic history of the earth and findings such as this one.
- nnutter 7y agoS46E27
- degenerate 7y agoYou can watch it here: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/polar-extremes/ https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/polar-extremes/ If you get blocked because of region; New York works.
- saagarjha 7y agoI was wondering how they knew it was climate change and not continental drift and it seems like Antarctica hasn’t moved much in the last 100 million years.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- Reelin 7y agoOriginal paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2148-5 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2148-5
- aww_dang 7y ago>"A climate model simulation shows that the reconstructed temperate climate at this high latitude requires a combination of both atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations of 1,120–1,680 parts per million" Does this allow for other methods of warming? Does it assume that all things would be equal except for carbon dioxide levels? If so, why?
- Endlessly 7y agoOne explanation would be Earth’s spin axis was in a different spot millions of years ago due to polar shift. Related research: https://www.discovermagazine.com/environment/millions-of-years-ago-the-poles-moved-and-it-could-have-triggered-an-ice-age https://www.discovermagazine.com/environment/millions-of-yea...
- chrisco255 7y agoTrue polar wander sounds like one of the most terrifying natural disasters I could imagine.
- Endlessly 7y agoGradual polar shift happens over millions of years; specifically characteristic rate of true polar wander is 1° or less per million years. If the shifting occurs as a “Cataclysmic” polar shift [1] or geomagnetic reversal [2], the periodic reversal of the Earth's magnetic field (effectively switching the north and south magnetic poles) — I agree that it would likely have terrifying results for the inhabitants of Earth. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cataclysmic_pole_shift_hypothesis https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cataclysmic_pole_shift_hypot... [2] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geomagnetic_reversal https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geomagnetic_reversal
- cryptonector 7y agoI mean, it's a very slow motion disaster -- so slow it can't be a disaster for us.
- pmichaud 7y agoThe explanation is that the antarctic tectonic plate wasn't where it is now. Plus we've been in an ice age for like 2.5 million years. So when the plate that currently covers the south pole was closer to the equator and the temperature of the earth was substantially warmer at the same time, then it had a rainforest.
- throwaway2048 7y ago
- puranjay 7y agoI wonder what fossil treasures are sitting beneath the ice in Antarctica. Most people don't realize how massive the continent is since it doesn't show up fully on maps - it is nearly 1.5 times the size of America. If it was a wetter, warmer place millions of years ago, it would have been teeming with life.
- arunix 7y agoBear in mind that underneath the ice, Antarctica is an archipelago, not a continuous land mass. https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/18757/what-would-an-antarctica-without-ice-look-like-compared-to-other-continents https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/18757/what...
- lmilcin 7y agoMy understand is this is largely because the land mass was pressed down by kilometers of ice. With the ice gone we can expect it to spring up very quickly same way Scandinavia did and is to some extent still doing today. I have no idea how much can be expected to come up but my very quick and inaccurate estimation would be something like 1/8th to 1/5th of the ice thickness pressing it down.
- LeifCarrotson 7y agoIf the land mass springs up, does somewhere (everywhere?) else on the planet drift down to make up for the change in volume?
- oblongx 7y agoIndeed. It's one of the Atlantis theories. Idea is that as North American ice disappeared the land lifted up, Atlantis was on the other end of that plate and went down into the sea respectively. Randall Carlson has some interesting theories.
- sliken 7y agoKeep in mind that "spring up very quickly" to a geologist is on the order of inches per year. There are several places currently where glaciers have melted and are experience uplifts on the order of inches a year.
- jaspax 7y agoNow if we would only get to work on global warming we could restore the Antarctic jungle to its proper Mesozoic glory.
- dmos62 7y agoIf Earth's ice caps' ice cover were to melt, how much landmass would that uncover? ice-cap - ice + water = ?
- Kaiyou 7y agoAntarctica is about 150% the size of Europe.
- mr_toad 7y agoThe combination of melted ice and thermal expansion would mean that a lot of it would be flooded.
- mkl 7y agoThere is so much ice in Antarctica (up to 4776m thick! [1]) that a large amount of what seems like it would be land is actually below sea level (it's massively weighed down, and some would rebound over time [2]). Here are some estimates of what would be left at first: https://vectormap.info/vector-maps-manual/map-antarctica-without-ice/ https://vectormap.info/vector-maps-manual/map-antarctica-wit... and https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/pvqpg/the_archipelago_of_antarctica_without_ice_not/ https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/pvqpg/the_archipel... [1] http://www.antarctica.gov.au/about-antarctica/environment/sea-ice/ice-sheet http://www.antarctica.gov.au/about-antarctica/environment/se... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-glacial_rebound https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-glacial_rebound
- benfrain 7y agoAnyone else wonder what kind of horrors are currently frozen down there. I’m thinking smallpox and other problems we believed were gone for good.
- anon_cow1111 7y agoI'm guessing all kinds of viruses and bacteria that evolved to infect whatever was living 90mil years ago. But there's always a chance of also finding a buried spaceship.
- whateveracct 7y agoor a stargate ;)
- LandR 7y agoWould an ancient virus be any harm to modern humans? Or would we be too different to what was around millions of years ago for it to be a le to survive and infect people?
- pvaldes 7y agoI think so. We can be modern, but we still breath exactly like any other mammal, including prehistoric species. Our methabolic routes are shared with lots of other species, extant and extinct
- pvaldes 7y agoFortunately some of those genus survived up to our time, including the only parasite conifer known that is alive. Plants in those forests would look like this: https://www.junglegardens.org/blog-posts/2018/12/3/the-asian-bayberry-nageia-nagi https://www.junglegardens.org/blog-posts/2018/12/3/the-asian...