Scientists in Germany have found amber in Antarctica for the primary time, revealing that round 90 million years in the past, the continent’s local weather situations supported resin-producing forests, Germany’s Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) reported this week.
This southernmost discovery of amber gives new insights into Cretaceous forests close to the South Pole, AWI mentioned in a press launch.
The amber was found in a sediment core retrieved from the Amundsen Sea at a depth of 946 meters, utilizing a seabed drilling gadget throughout a 2017 expedition aboard the icebreaker Polarstern. For evaluation, the supply materials was fastidiously air-dried and sliced into items about 1 mm in diameter to extract the amber. Potential remnants of tree bark have been additionally recognized, providing additional clues concerning the historical forests close to the South Pole.
“The analyzed amber fragments present direct insights into the environmental situations that prevailed in West Antarctica 90 million years in the past,” AWI marine geologist Johann P. Klages mentioned. “It was very thrilling to understand that, in some unspecified time in the future of their historical past, all seven continents had climates that allowed resin-producing bushes to outlive.”
The analysis staff, led by scientists from AWI and the TU Bergakademie Freiberg, has printed their findings within the journal Antarctic Science.
