A first-of-its kind find discovery in Antarctica could be the strongest evidence yet that lush rainforests once thrived near the South Pole.
German geologists have discovered amber – fossilised tree resin – in samples of mud recovered from the seafloor near the outer edges of the icy continent’s landmass in 2017.
The nuggets reveal ‘direct insights into environmental conditions that prevailed in West Antarctica 90 million years ago’, wrote Dr. Johann P. Klages, who led the team from the Alfred Wegener Institute in Bremerhaven.
The researchers previously found that a layer of mudstone in the area was ‘rich’ in microscopic fossils of spores or pollen and was once pocked by plant roots.
The discovery indicated a ‘swampy temperate rainforest environment near the South Pole that was dominated by conifers’.
But until now, amber – a byproduct of trees in the pine family – has never been found on the Antarctic continent.
It reveals a number of surprising details about the forest – such as that it suffered from parasites or forest fires.
The Cretaceous period – when this forest existed – is considered to have been a ‘high-fire’ world due to extreme temperatures and unusually high levels of oxygen in the atmosphere.
But only a handful of studies have uncovered direct evidence of polar wildfires.
The researchers also concluded the forest was probably met its end by being ‘quickly’ submerged in high waters.
‘It was very exciting to realize that at some point in their history, all seven continents had climatic conditions allowing resin-producing trees to survive,’ Dr Klages told Phys.org.
‘Our goal now is to learn more about the forest ecosystem—if it burns down, if we can find traces of life included in the amber.
‘This discovery allows a journey to the past in yet another more direct way.’
Scientists believe fragments inside the nugget are pieces of tree bark, which would likely be extremely well-preserved.
Further analysis will be carried out to confirm this and what it means for our understanding of Antarctica’s ancient forests.
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