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Article: Alpine Antarctica, before all the ice: study details chain of peaks under continent's flat surface.(Earth)
- Article from:
- Science News
- Article date:
- July 4, 2009
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2009 Science Service, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Deep below the icy surface of East Antarctica lies a mountain range with alpine topography carved by ancient glaciers, a landscape frozen in time for millions of years and rife with clues about the origin and evolution of the world's largest ice sheet.
Many studies hint that Antarctica's ice sheet began to form about 34 million years ago (SN: 10/11/08, p. 12), but how and where it first formed has long been a mystery. Now, scientists who used ice-penetrating radar to survey a 30-by-30kilometer area in East Antarctica report in the June 4 Nature that they may have discovered the birthplace of the Antarctic ice sheet.
Known as Dome A, the area surveyed ...