Hidden beneath Antarctic ice lies evidence of an ancient swampy rainforest that sprawled far before humans roamed the Earth. Researchers were unaware an ecosystem of this nature ever existed on the frozen continent — that is, until one team got a closer look at the decayed plant matter dug out from under ice and hoisted aboard an expedition ship.
Dating back 83 million to 92 million years, the prehistoric soil is strangely well preserved. “If you were to go to a forest close to your house and dig a hole several feet in the ground, it would look like this sample,” says Johann Klages, a geologist with the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Germany who helped author a recent paper on the findings.
