मैगज़्टर गोल्ड के साथ असीमित हो जाओ

मैगज़्टर गोल्ड के साथ असीमित हो जाओ

10,000 से अधिक पत्रिकाओं, समाचार पत्रों और प्रीमियम कहानियों तक असीमित पहुंच प्राप्त करें सिर्फ

$149.99
 
$74.99/वर्ष

कोशिश गोल्ड - मुक्त

LIFTING THE LID ON ANTARCTICA

How It Works UK

|

Issue 194

What was the coldest continent like without ice?

- SCOTT DUTFIELD

LIFTING THE LID ON ANTARCTICA

Antarctica hasn't always been a cold desert. For around 100 million years the southernmost continent was covered by lush rainforests and roamed by dinosaurs. Like all of the continents, the landmass of Antarctica sits on one of the seven major plates of Earth's crust. The heat generated by the core of our planet causes these plates to slowly move around the globe at a rate of around 1.5 centimetres per year. Throughout over 4-billion-years of Earth's history, the continents have found themselves in different orientations. Around 200 million years ago Antarctica was a long way from the South Pole and sat near the equator, shoulder to shoulder with Africa, South America and Australia. These continents formed a giant landmass known as Gondwanaland. Without a shard of ice in sight, Antarctica was a warm, rainforest-laden continent that looked more like modern-day New Zealand.

imageBy around 90 to 83 million years ago, Antarctica reached its current location at the South Pole. At a time when Earth was experiencing its warmest climate in history, the surface temperature of Antarctica was around 12 degrees Celsius. This allowed swampy forests to persist on the continent, especially in West Antarctica, around 560 miles from the South Pole. As well as lush foliage, coldblooded reptiles such as ankylosaurus and mosasaurs called Antarctica home until around 34 million years ago, when the continent was encased in a sheet of ice. Swapping the forests for glaciers and dinosaurs for prehistoric penguins, it took just over 200,000 years for Antarctica to freeze as global temperatures fell by up to four degrees Celsius. Sea levels also fell by 40 metres as water was frozen into the sheet that covers the South Pole today.

How It Works UK से और कहानियाँ

How It Works UK

How It Works UK

UNCANNY'S DANNY ROBINS

The creator and host of the BBC's Uncanny series tells us about his most chilling experiences while researching the show, and writing a ghost book for children

time to read

4 mins

Issue 208

How It Works UK

How It Works UK

HOW FEATHERS GROW

A bird's proteinaceous plumage comes from the same source as our hair

time to read

1 mins

Issue 208

How It Works UK

How It Works UK

New EV battery technology could power 500-mile road trips on a 12-minute charge

Scientists have used a neat chemistry trick to tackle a major challenge facing future batteries.

time to read

2 mins

Issue 208

How It Works UK

How It Works UK

HOW AIR PURIFIERS WORK

These filtration devices clean a room's air of particles that can make a person sick

time to read

1 min

Issue 208

How It Works UK

How It Works UK

Chinese scientists hunt for alien radio signals in a 'potentially habitable' star system

TRAPPIST-1 is a red dwarf star located about 40 light years away that hosts seven Earth-sized rocky planets, with at least three orbiting in the habitable zone where liquid water could exist.

time to read

2 mins

Issue 208

How It Works UK

How It Works UK

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE DIE?

Our bodies are vessels for life, but in death they undergo a cascade of chemical and biological changes

time to read

3 mins

Issue 208

How It Works UK

How It Works UK

WHY ARE KEYBOARDS QWERTY?

There's a reason why this seemingly random arrangement of letters is widely used on keyboard layouts

time to read

1 min

Issue 208

How It Works UK

How It Works UK

A 'quasi-moon' discovered in Earth orbit may have been hiding for decades

A new paper describes a possible 'quasi-moon' of Earth, an interloping asteroid that may have been following our planet around for decades, undetected.

time to read

1 mins

Issue 208

How It Works UK

How It Works UK

WHAT'S AN ANTI-DRONE GUN?

How these devices intercept and disable unmanned aerial vehicles

time to read

1 mins

Issue 208

How It Works UK

How It Works UK

Dozens of mysterious blobs discovered inside Mars may be 'failed planets'

Giant impact structures, including the potential remains of ancient ‘protoplanets’, may be lurking deep beneath the surface of Mars.

time to read

2 mins

Issue 208

Listen

Translate

Share

-
+

Change font size