.
Scientists have at last been able to map the Gamburtsev Mountains which are hidden under miles of ice in Antarctica.
The mountains were discovered by a Soviet team during the International Geophysical Year in 1957-8. Their detection was a surprise because the rock bed in the middle of the Antarctic continent was assumed to be relatively flat.
But now an international team have spent two months in 2008/9 surveying the Gamburtsevs which are totally buried under the ice cap. The survey revealed a very rugged landscape with high peaks and deeply incised valleys which have been worked in the past by both river and ice processes.
I’ve often wondered whether, if global warming were ever to melt the polar ice caps (though God forbid) scientists would discover the remains of human habitation.
But I won’t know in my lifetime.
.
Scientists have at last been able to map the Gamburtsev Mountains which are hidden under miles of ice in Antarctica.
The mountains were discovered by a Soviet team during the International Geophysical Year in 1957-8. Their detection was a surprise because the rock bed in the middle of the Antarctic continent was assumed to be relatively flat.
But now an international team have spent two months in 2008/9 surveying the Gamburtsevs which are totally buried under the ice cap. The survey revealed a very rugged landscape with high peaks and deeply incised valleys which have been worked in the past by both river and ice processes.
I’ve often wondered whether, if global warming were ever to melt the polar ice caps (though God forbid) scientists would discover the remains of human habitation.
But I won’t know in my lifetime.
.
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