Antarctica was warm enough for rainforest near south pole 90m years ago

[Judi Lynn]

Experts say new evidence from Cretaceous period ‘shows us what carbon dioxide can do’

Nicola Davis

@NicolaKSDavis
Wed 1 Apr 2020 11.06 EDT

Think of Antarctica and it is probably sweeping expanses of ice, and the odd penguin, that come to mind. But at the time of the dinosaurs the continent was covered in swampy rainforest.

Now experts say they have found the most southerly evidence yet of this environment in plant material extracted from beneath the seafloor in west Antarctica.

The Cretaceous, 145m to 66m years ago, was a warm period during which Earth had a greenhouse climate and vegetation grew in Antarctica.

Scientists say the new discovery not only reveals that swampy rainforests were thriving near the south pole about 90m years ago but that temperatures were higher than expected. Such conditions, they add, could only have been produced if carbon dioxide levels were far higher than previously thought and there were no glaciers in the region.

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/01/antarctic