Once there were forests
There were once great tropical forests covering the surface of Antarctica. The forests abounded with plants and animals, including dinosaurs and the first birds and mammals. We know this because fossils and fossilised forests - in the form of coal deposits - have been found in the rock of the Trans Antarctic mountain range.
Geologists have concluded that millions of years ago, the continent of Antarctica was part of Gondwanaland the huge southern super continent that consisted of what we now know as Africa, South America, India, Madagascar and Australia. The Antarctic Peninsula was tucked up between the present West African and eastern South American coasts.
The break-up and dispersal of Gondwana resulted in the formation of new oceans and currents. Ocean currents are an important mechanism for transporting heat and the development of new currents resulted in profound changes in the Earth's climat.
It is thought that the Antarctic ice sheet originated in the final stages of Gondwana's dispersal, with the development of the circumpolar current. |
