Scientists have discovered a land formation formed by rivers hidden under the East Antarctic ice cap for 14 million years.
According to CNN, scientists stated that the 14-million-year-old land in question was formed by rivers before the formation of the East Antarctic ice sheet, and that it resembles the hills and valleys of today’s North Wales.
Using aircraft equipped with an ice-penetrating radar system and satellite data, the research team scanned an area of 32 thousand square kilometers, approximately the size of Belgium.
Stewart Jamieson, professor at Durham University and lead author of the study, said the team set out to map the history of the ice sheet and how it developed over time, and that getting an idea of what the land looked like before it was covered by ice was important in this context.
“The land beneath the East Antarctic ice sheet is less known than the surface of Mars,” Jamieson said. said.
Stating that the structure of the land determines the flow pattern and direction of the ice in Antarctica, Jamieson stated that it also controls how the ice sheet will respond to climate change that may occur in the future.
Stating that the well-preserved nature of the discovered land makes it special, Jamieson pointed out that it is rare to find relatively unchanged land under the ice sheet covering such a continent.
The geophysical data collected by scientists gave clues about what lies under the 2 kilometer thick ice layer.
The results of the research were published in the journal “Nature Communications”.
2023-10-28 13:50:43
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