{"id":125825,"date":"2024-11-14T18:17:46","date_gmt":"2024-11-14T11:17:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=125825"},"modified":"2024-11-14T18:17:46","modified_gmt":"2024-11-14T11:17:46","slug":"first-ever-amber-discovered-in-antarctica-shows-rainforest-existed-near-south-pole-sciencealert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=125825","title":{"rendered":"First-Ever Amber Discovered in Antarctica Shows Rainforest Existed Near South Pole : ScienceAlert"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Imagine a time machine that could whisk you back to the age of the  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/dinosaurs\" class=\"lar_link lar_link_outgoing\" data-linkid=\"73069\" data-postid=\"143456\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_self\">dinosaurs<\/a>. Suddenly, you find yourself in a dense, swampy forest, with insects buzzing between <a href=\"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/journals\/earth-science\/articles\/10.3389\/feart.2023.1048754\/full\">flowers, ferns, and conifers<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>Believe it or not, you&#8217;re standing in West Antarctica.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>Scientists in Germany and the UK have now discovered amber there for the first time \u2013 the fossilized &#8216;blood&#8217; of ancient coniferous trees that once grew on Earth&#8217;s southernmost continent between 83 and 92 million years ago.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>Along with fossils of roots, pollen, and spores, the amber provides some of the best evidence yet that a mid-Cretaceous, swampy rainforest existed near the South Pole, and that this prehistoric environment was &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1017\/S0954102024000208\">dominated by conifers<\/a>&#8220;, similar to forests in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/discovery-of-ancient-rainforest-in-antarctica-is-a-grim-warning-of-earth-s-future\">New Zealand<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/pursuit.unimelb.edu.au\/articles\/fossil-forests-under-antarctic-ice\">Patagonia<\/a> today.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_143482\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-143482\" style=\"width: 642px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/11\/csm_Westantarktis_vor_90_Mio_Jahren_J_McKay_klein_ad79cdaf88-642x321.jpg\" alt=\"Artistic Antarctica Cretaceous\" width=\"642\" height=\"321\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-143482\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/11\/csm_Westantarktis_vor_90_Mio_Jahren_J_McKay_klein_ad79cdaf88-642x321.jpg 642w, https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/11\/csm_Westantarktis_vor_90_Mio_Jahren_J_McKay_klein_ad79cdaf88-830x415.jpg 830w, https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/11\/csm_Westantarktis_vor_90_Mio_Jahren_J_McKay_klein_ad79cdaf88-768x384.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/11\/csm_Westantarktis_vor_90_Mio_Jahren_J_McKay_klein_ad79cdaf88-600x300.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/11\/csm_Westantarktis_vor_90_Mio_Jahren_J_McKay_klein_ad79cdaf88.jpg 1218w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 642px) 100vw, 642px\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-143482\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Artist&#8217;s impression of Antarctica during the mid-Cretaceous. (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.awi.de\/ueber-uns\/service\/presse\/presse-detailansicht\/spuren-eines-regenwaldes-in-der-westantarktis.html\">Alfred-Wegener-Institut\/James McKay\/CC-BY-4.0<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The unearthing of amber in Antarctica pulls back the continent&#8217;s current icy exterior to reveal an ancient habitat once warm and wet enough to host resin-producing trees. In the mid-Cretaceous, those trees would have had to survive through months of total darkness over winter.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>But survive, they clearly did. Even if they had to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/scientists-explore-antarctica-fossil-forests\">go dormant<\/a> for long chunks of time.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>Before this discovery, scientists had only found Cretaceous amber deposits as far south as the Otway Basin in Australia and the Tupuangi Formation in New Zealand.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;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,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.awi.de\/en\/about-us\/service\/press\/single-view\/erster-bernsteinfund-auf-antarktischem-kontinent.html\">says<\/a> marine geologist Johann Klages from the Alfred Wegener Institute in Germany.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Our goal now is to learn more about the forest ecosystem \u2013 if it burned 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.&#8221;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_143480\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-143480\" style=\"width: 642px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/11\/csm_Klages_etal_Amber_inclusions_unmarked_0c46da1a9d-642x321.jpg\" alt=\"Antarctic Amber\" width=\"642\" height=\"321\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-143480\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/11\/csm_Klages_etal_Amber_inclusions_unmarked_0c46da1a9d-642x321.jpg 642w, https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/11\/csm_Klages_etal_Amber_inclusions_unmarked_0c46da1a9d-830x415.jpg 830w, https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/11\/csm_Klages_etal_Amber_inclusions_unmarked_0c46da1a9d-768x384.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/11\/csm_Klages_etal_Amber_inclusions_unmarked_0c46da1a9d-600x300.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/11\/csm_Klages_etal_Amber_inclusions_unmarked_0c46da1a9d.jpg 1218w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 642px) 100vw, 642px\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-143480\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A slice of the Antarctic amber, showing signs of intruding bark from a Cretaceous-era tree. (Klages et al., <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/journals\/antarctic-science\/article\/first-discovery-of-antarctic-amber\/700244C13B3972F0048EAC029E34263E\"><i>Antarctic Research<\/i><\/a>, 2024)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Scientists have unearthed fossilized wood and leaves in Antarctica <a href=\"https:\/\/pursuit.unimelb.edu.au\/articles\/fossil-forests-under-antarctic-ice\">since the early 19th century<\/a>, but many of these discoveries date back <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/scientists-explore-antarctica-fossil-forests\">hundreds of millions of years<\/a> to when the southern supercontinent Gondwana existed. As Antarctica drifted away from Australia and South America toward the south pole, it&#8217;s not entirely clear what happened to its forests.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>In 2017, researchers drilled into the seafloor near West Antarctica and pulled up exceptionally well-preserved evidence of these long-lost habitats.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>After several years of analysis, Klages and a team of researchers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/discovery-of-ancient-rainforest-in-antarctica-is-a-grim-warning-of-earth-s-future#:~:text=Microscopic%20analyses%20also%20found%20evidence,a%20barren%20province%20of%20ice.\">announced<\/a> in 2020 that they had found a web of fossilized roots that dated back to the mid-Cretaceous. Under the microscope, they also identified evidence of pollen and spores.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>That same drilling has now offered up concrete proof that resin-producing trees once existed in Antarctica.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>In a 3-meter (10-foot) long layer of mudstone, Klagen and a new team have described several tiny slices of translucent amber, just 0.5 to 1.0 millimeters in size. Each hosts a variation of yellow to orange colors with typical <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Conchoidal_fracture\">scalloped fractures<\/a> on the surface.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>This is a sign of resin flow, which occurs when sap leaks out of a tree to seal the bark against injuries from fires or insects.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>The Cretaceous was one of the warmest periods in Earth&#8217;s history, and volcanic deposits found on Antarctica and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.livescience.com\/ancient-wildfires-burned-antarctica\" style=\"letter-spacing: -0.025em;\">nearby islands<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/journals\/earth-science\/articles\/10.3389\/feart.2023.1048754\/full\" style=\"letter-spacing: -0.025em;\">show evidence<\/a> of frequent forest fires during this time.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_143472\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-143472\" style=\"width: 642px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/11\/antarcticforests-642x243.png\" alt=\"Antarctic Forests\" width=\"642\" height=\"243\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-143472\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/11\/antarcticforests-642x243.png 642w, https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/11\/antarcticforests-1024x388.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/11\/antarcticforests-768x291.png 768w, https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/11\/antarcticforests-1536x582.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/11\/antarcticforests-600x227.png 600w, https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/11\/antarcticforests.png 1991w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 642px) 100vw, 642px\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-143472\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The drill sample from Antarctica contained remnants of amber and possible intrusions of bark, seen in the red square. (Klages et al., <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/journals\/antarctic-science\/article\/first-discovery-of-antarctic-amber\/700244C13B3972F0048EAC029E34263E\"><i>Antarctic Research<\/i><\/a>, 2024)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The amber was probably preserved and fossilized because high water levels quickly covered the tree resin, protecting it from ultraviolet radiation and oxidation.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>It even looks like the amber contains some tiny bits of tree bark, but further analysis is needed to confirm that.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>Piece by miniscule piece, scientists are gradually putting together a picture of what Antarctica&#8217;s forests once used to look like and how they functioned 90 million years ago.<\/p>\n<p>The study was published in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/journals\/antarctic-science\/article\/first-discovery-of-antarctic-amber\/700244C13B3972F0048EAC029E34263E\"><i>Antarctic Research<\/i><\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><div data-type=\"_mgwidget\" data-widget-id=\"1660802\">\r\n<\/div>\r\n<script>(function(w,q){w[q]=w[q]||[];w[q].push([\"_mgc.load\"])})(window,\"_mgq\");\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/first-ever-amber-discovered-in-antarctica-shows-rainforest-existed-near-south-pole\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Imagine a time machine that could whisk you back to the age of the dinosaurs. Suddenly, you find yourself in a dense, swampy forest, with insects buzzing between flowers, ferns, &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=125825\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8628],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-125825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-science","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=125825"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125825\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=125825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=125825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=125825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}