Antarctica's tropical past is revealed

Antarctica's tropical past is revealed

Antarctica's tropical past is revealed

2 August 2012, by Marion O'Sullivan

Antarctica was once home to a diverse range of tropical plants including ferns, palms and rainforest trees, say scientists.

They have uncovered the first direct evidence of a much warmer, greener continent in the Southern Ocean. They publish their findings today in Nature.

The researchers took a research ship to Wilkes Land off Antarctica's eastern coast, where they drilled a kilometre deep into the ocean floor. The layers of sediment they extracted contain tiny fossils and chemicals, trapped in a snapshot of time.