Secrets Beneath the Antarctic Ice
by There are many mysteries surrounding the Antarctic, and things are getting interesting! Scientists are just beginning to explore some of its many secrets – secrets which may affect the future of our planet.
On 12th April 2009, The Independent ran a story – Hilary Clinton urges Tougher Controls on South Pole Tourists
It is a fact that Antarctic tourism is becoming increasing popular and although there have been incidents where boats have hit trouble in the icy, treacherous terrain, there is no indication however that tourism is in any way detrimental to the region – So, it begs the question, could there be another reason/s why “the powers that be” want to keep people away from the area at this point in time?
There are a few very interesting possibilities.
Background
The Antarctic has not always been covered by ice; scientific analysis indicates that around 40 million years ago, the Antarctic was part of a large, lush and temperate continent, known as Gondwanaland, a “supercontinent” which incorporated South America, Africa, Australia and India.
Fossil records of ostracods (a type of small seed shrimp which survived the environment up until around 14 million years ago), corals, shark teeth, water reptiles, leaves, wood and even intact tree trunks confirm that the Antarctic was once warm, hospitable and teeming with life and potentially unknown human civilisation.
In 2008, subsurface surveys surprised scientists when the results revealed evidence that a mountain range, of a similar size to the Alps, lay beneath approximately 4km of ice and snow.
Of most interest are the liquid lakes which are known to exist deep below the ice cap.
Mysterious Lake Vostock
image source: a space radar picture of the lake with a cross-section diagram
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Post CommentLouie Jerome
On April 19, 2009 at 6:11 am
Interesting and informative. I enjoyed this.
Stacey T Pollock
On April 19, 2009 at 6:53 am
Fascinating and interesting article!
Andrew Davies
On April 19, 2009 at 9:37 am
Nice story.
Will Gray
On April 19, 2009 at 11:06 am
Stunning article! I learned a lot!! Fantastic!
C Jordan
On April 19, 2009 at 12:12 pm
Excellent article S. Looks like a lot of research went into it.
Gon pincha
On April 19, 2009 at 1:10 pm
Great article. I really enjoyed it
Very interesting.
Yours, Gonzalo.
Yovita Siswati
On April 20, 2009 at 8:26 am
Interesting facts. Thanks for educating me.
Dreyan
On April 20, 2009 at 1:23 pm
“Going to be very interesting”? You sound suspicious
I heard there was some sort of Martian skeleton discovered there. Perhaps it was a native fossil that got pushed to the surface.
This reminds me of an unrelated article I saw before, suggesting that human civilization is much older than we think. Perhaps if all this junk were cross-referenced…
h20ho
On April 20, 2009 at 2:42 pm
I like reading your articles. They are always interesting, well prepared and are designed very intelligently.
Chambo
On April 21, 2009 at 8:24 pm
Yet another well researched and equally well written piece S Hayes.
RJ
REPuckett
On April 22, 2009 at 2:48 am
Very well put together. I love topics like this.
Claudette Jones
On April 22, 2009 at 11:56 am
Very interesting and well researched article. I am familiar with Hoagland, a real expert in areas of strange phenomenon.
hfj
On April 22, 2009 at 1:25 pm
Veru thought provoking article. We seem to never get any news concerning Antartica. Sixty minutes done a special show a few years ago, but it was mostly about how cold the temperatures got up there at night. Well written piece.
Karen Gross
On April 22, 2009 at 3:07 pm
Great article, obviously well researched. It will be interesting to watch what happens to the polar ice caps in the next decade. Maybe we will all have to live at the north and south poles, if global warming leads to a new ice age on the other continents.
Swayam Siddha
On May 13, 2009 at 1:25 am
I like it verymuch