Antarctic Fossils
Most recent answer: 04/26/2011
Q:
Antartica was not always covered by ice. Millions of years ago, Antartica was located further north than it is today making it warmer. Is it possible that under Antartica's ice sheet there are numerous fossils of very ancient and unknown lifeforms? Would there even be well preserved ancient corpses of those lifeforms? Thank you!
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
A:
There are many fascinating fossils in Antarctica.You can find many good articles by googling "antarctic fossils". To the best of my limited knowledge, there are not any special "well preserved ancient corpses" because the time it took for the continent to drift south and get cold was far too long to fresh-freeze anything. I suppose it's possible that something froze quickly (like the occasional Arctic mammoth) in a storm, and then stayed frozen. However, I don't think anything like that has been found. A geologist or paleontologist might be a better person to ask.
Mike W.
p.s. My son, an Antarctic veteran, says that ice keeps forming on top and the ice lower down gets pushed out. We aren't sure if any of the ice from the early cold period is left, but if it is it's very deep by now.
Mike W.
p.s. My son, an Antarctic veteran, says that ice keeps forming on top and the ice lower down gets pushed out. We aren't sure if any of the ice from the early cold period is left, but if it is it's very deep by now.
(published on 04/26/2011)