Throughout the time of our planet's existence, a large number of changes have occurred that, together, have transformed the appearance of the Earth multiple times. Scientists know this well, but the ability to be surprised by discoveries along these lines has not diminished.
On the contrary, there is always overwhelming amazement at the secrets that the blue planet still hides. Related to that, we have the recent discovery of a landscape under the Antarctic ice sheet.
The discovery in question was made by glaciologist Stewart Jamieson, from the University of Durham, and his colleagues. They reported their discovery in a paper published in Nature Communications.
To be more precise, what the team of scientists found was a vast landscape of hills and valleys sculpted by an ancient river system. This terrain, which reinforces the fact that the surface of Mars is better known than the world under the Antarctic ice sheet, covers an area larger than that of Belgium.
Although the frozen landscape of East Antarctica has remained hidden for millions of years, scientists warn that, due to human-induced global warming, the region buried by ice could resurface.
It was during the researchers' scanning of the Aurora-Schmidt basins that the ancient landscape was revealed. In short, a work of radioelectric surveys and the reference of satellite images made the team see a sunken area more than 300 kilometers deep.
This area, measuring 32,000 square kilometers, must have been home to a wide variety of flora and fauna, explains Jamieson. However, far from marking an end to these discoveries, the authors of the research still see a world to discover. (Cubadebate with information from National Geographic) (Photo taken from the Internet)
