A simple 90 million year ago , Antarctica was a radically different place . Instead of being a polar desert characterized by colossal shabu sheet and glaciers , it may have been a muddy land of rain forest overshadow by fern and conifer trees .
scientist from the Alfred Wegener Institute in Germany and Imperial College London came across some convincing grounds of thisback in 2020when they drilled a core sampling in West Antarctica around 900 kilometer ( 559 miles ) by from the South Pole .
At around 90 million years old , the sample of ancient soil was rich in save stem , pollen , and spores , indicate that the continent was once abundant in works life .
Map of the drill site and how the continents were arranged 90 million years ago.Image Credit:Alfred-Wegener-Institut
The discovery was especially surprising since Antarctica has winters of total darkness , meaning the Sun does n’t decorate the continent for four months at a metre . Despite this , a wealth of plant life was seemingly able to thrive here .
" The conservation of this 90 - million - twelvemonth - erstwhile forest is exceptional , but even more surprising is the cosmos it reveals . Even during months of dark , swampy temperate rainforests were able to produce nigh to the South Pole , revealing an even warmer climate than we have a bun in the oven , ” Professor Tina van de Flierdt , report carbon monoxide gas - generator from the Department of Earth Science and Engineering at Imperial , said in astatementin 2020 .
The research worker believe that the average temperature back then were around 12 ° C ( 54 ° F ) and the region harbored a temperate rainforest , not different to those found in New Zealand today .
This period , the mid - Cretaceous , was the hot period in the past 140 million old age . Sea degree were also passing high , with the ocean being around 170 meters ( 558 feet ) higher than it is today .
The Cretaceous Period ( 145 to 66 million year ago ) is also know as a heyday for dinosaurs , as it was a time when many divers species thrived , include iconic group likeTyrannosaurusandTriceratops .
dinosaur even lived in Antarctica around this time . In recent years , paleontologist have discovered atreasure treasure trove of dinosaur fossilson the continent . It ’s equally unsure how large beast managed to hold up through the 4 - month glacial nights , although they might have migrate in the winter or make grow some other survival of the fittest mechanisms .
Today , Antarctica is n’t famous for its fat plant life life history – although that might be starting to change .
Just two coinage of vascular plants are native to the region : Antarctic hair grass and south-polar pearlwort . The two plants havebecome progressively commonin the preceding twain of years due to ascend temperatures . Furthermore , the continent hasbeen invadedby over 100 other plant species that are not native , including lawn grass .
Since the South Pole is still dominated by gargantuan ice sheets , it is hard to conceive of it returning to a lush forest – and that is still unlikely to occur any metre soon , despite itsrecent warming movement . However , all of this should process as a monitor thatvery few things remain unchangedfor long on planet Earth .
