An artist’s impression of the South Pole during the mid-Cretaceous periodWhen Roald Amundsen became the first person to reach the South Pole on December 14, 1911, it is unlikely that the determined explorer would have wasted much time pondering how the terrain would have looked 90 million years before. Now, however, scientists have revealed that in our ancient past the Antarctic was a temperate and somewhat swampy rainforest with an average temperature of about 12C. In the summer, they said, temperatures could reach a balmy 19C. Their findings, published in the journal Nature, are based on soil samples believed to be from the mid-Cretaceous period, 115 million to 80 million years ago. Roald Amundsen found a land of ice — but Antarctica wasn’t always that way BOB THOMAS/GETTY IMAGESThe team, which included scientists from the UK and Germany, said analysis of preserved roots and other plant remains in the soil

Source: The Times April 01, 2020 22:52 UTC