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An international team identified, in the east of Antarctica, a complete fossil landscape buried under more than 2 kilometers of ice: valleys, gentle mountains, and ancient river basins that have not seen sunlight in 34 million years.
The discovery, published in Nature Communications, was achieved thanks to the combination of satellites and ice-penetrating radar, which allowed the reconstruction of the hidden relief beneath the gigantic ice sheet of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet.
A Geological Time Capsule Under Antarctica
The surface found covers about 32,000 km², larger than Wales, and preserves traces of rivers and drainage networks formed before the great climatic transition that covered the continent with ice. The ice that protects it is “cold at the base,” meaning it barely erodes the terrain and has kept it intact for millions of years.
According to the team led by Stewart Jamieson, it is a preglacial surface formed by rivers, then modified by local glaciers, and finally frozen under the great eastern sheet.
Complementary Evidence
In 2024, another group of researchers analyzed sediments off the coast of West Antarctica, near the Pine Island and Thwaites glaciers. There they found pollen and microfossils that reveal the existence of temperate forests similar to present-day Patagonia, also dated around 34 million years ago.
The study, published in Science, concluded that permanent glaciation began first in the east of the continent, while the west remained forested and temperate for several million more years.
A Different Antarctica
The joint evidence shows that 34 million years ago Antarctica was not the current icy desert:
- In the east, rivers ran through plains and valleys now buried.
- In the west, temperate forests thrived in a milder climate.
Lessons for the Present
The great eastern ice sheet formed when atmospheric CO₂ fell below a critical threshold, reorganizing ocean circulation. Today the opposite is happening: CO₂ concentrations are rising rapidly and the ocean surrounding Antarctica is warming from below.
Recent studies warn that in the Amundsen Sea warming could triple the historical melt rates of ice shelves during this century, promoting the retreat of West Antarctica and raising sea levels.
For those living in coastal cities, these findings are no longer a polar curiosity: they show that the cryosphere responds strongly to relatively small changes in CO₂ and temperature, with effects that can last centuries and transform coastlines.
Next Scientific Steps
The next challenge will be to physically reach that buried relief. Projects like Beyond EPICA have already drilled more than 2 km of ice to recover cores up to 1.2 million years old. Subglacial lakes like Vostok and Whillans have also been explored with strict protocols to avoid contamination.
Applying these technologies to the “lost world” would allow the recovery of soils, organic remains, and ancient DNA, refining the reconstruction of that ecosystem and offering a precise mirror of how the climate system responds when crossing certain thresholds.
The finding beneath the Antarctic ice not only reveals an intact fossil landscape but also reminds us that the stability of ice sheets depends on the concentration of greenhouse gases and ocean dynamics. Amid discussions on how to decarbonize the economy, this discovery provides a clear warning: the cryosphere can quickly reorganize, and its effects will be felt on coastlines around the world.
