Geologists Have Discovered 280-Million-Year-Old Fossilized Forest In Antartica

Most of us know that Antarctica is a frosty wilderness covered in thick compacted ice. 280-million-year-old tree fossils, Which is believed to be evidence of the oldest polar forest, have been discovered by the team of Geologists in Antartica. This can be thougt as dating back to before the first dinosaurs walked the Earth. Now the team is braving the land of ice once more to uncover clues as to how forests once flourished there.

The new research aimed to study how such polar ecosystems changed during the mass extinction at the end of the Permian period 250 million years ago, he said. The new research aimed to study how such polar ecosystems changed during the mass extinction at the end of the Permian period 250 million years ago, he said. Although research is still ongoing on what caused the mass extinction, many scientists believe 90 per cent of all species were wiped out from the face of the earth, including the polar forest, because of higher global temperatures and ocean acidification caused by an injection of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere spanning over 200,000 years. (A photograph taken by Captain Scott on his final expedition of Dr Edward Wilson sketching on Beardmore Glacier)