Antarctica is now the coldest place on Earth.
The Katabatic winds howl around Antarctica’s gale thrashed coast. But once its green valley’s were filled with thriving Glossopteris Pine and Beach forests. How do we know this? “Scott of the Antarctic” was the first to discover telltale fossils on the Beardmore Glacier in 1912. Since then petrified tree stumps and leaves; bones of dinosaurs and marsupials; and fossil rich coal has been discovered in the now hostile environment.
According to classic geology, this previous lush environment thrived millions of years ago in the Permian age. The shifting Antarctic continent, inexorably plodding at millimetres per year, gradually moved into icy hibernation. The flora and fauna were iced over and slowly fossilized, just as in Greenland!
But wait! This formation of a three kilometre thick ice sheet is no meagre feat. Antarctica contains ninety percent of the world’s ice, yet some of Antarctica’s valleys are the driest places on earth. Antarctica is technically considered a desert. Incredibly little snow falls in the interior (five centimetres per year rain equivalent) where the ice sheet is considerably thicker. Katabatic snow storms occur only on the coast where there is thinner ice. Is this a contradiction? Nevertheless, classic Geologists argue that, eons of time can explain away these ice sheet anomalies. Continue article, click here