What mystery is really hidden below the ice of Antarctica?

 

Antarctica is a place full of mysteries. Some have been figured out, but many are still not understood, even by scientists. What secrets are hidden under the thick ice? And how can a million-year-old piece of ice from here give us a hint into Earth's distant past?

In 2022, researchers noticed a strange mark on the Larsenby ice shelf in Antarctica using satellite images. This mark looked like a crack and only appeared in photos after 2021, which made them curious. To investigate further, they started drilling into the ice with a hot water drill that had a camera attached. At about 500 meters deep, they had to stop because the camera captured a surprising scene, a hidden river flowing beneath the ice shelf. Filled with thousands of tiny creatures called amphipods, these creatures became very active when the drill arrived.

However, the mystery remains, where did these amphipods come from, and what do they eat in such a remote and isolated place? Experts think that ocean shrimp feed on decayed plants, which suggests that plants might have once existed in this hidden river under Antarctica.

Also on our list is the deepest point in the ocean, the Challenger Deep. The second deepest is the Brownson Deep, and the third deepest point, called the Factorial Deep, is located in the southern ocean of Antarctica. In 2019, a deep spot called the Factorial Deep was found near Antarctica. It measures 7,437 meters deep. Scientists discovered it by using sonar scanning, where a device is moved over the icy southern sea from a ship.

 The sonar scan created a map of the seafloor with 1,200 tests, but researchers still don't understand how this deep point was formed or how it relates to the surrounding area. The fifth item on the list is a huge jellyfish seen by people on a cruise near Antarctica in 2022. The cruise operator sent a submersible underwater so passengers could see this jellyfish, which was about 33 feet long. It's called a giant phantom jellyfish.

Usually, these jellyfish live at ocean depths of around 3,500 feet, but this one was near the surface in Antarctic waters. Scientists still don't know why such a big jellyfish was in this area and so close to the surface. The fourth item is the discovery of an ancient rain forest buried beneath the ice in Antarctica's frozen valleys. This rain forest is about 90 million years old and shows evidence of a past world. The fossilized forest, found under the seabed covered in ice, contains tree roots, pollen, and other remains.

Radiocarbon dating shows that these fossils are from the Cretaceous period, a time when Earth's atmosphere had high carbon dioxide levels, creating a warmer climate. These fossils suggest that Antarctica was once covered in green valleys and colorful fields. The discovery of coal in 1909 also indicates that a rain forest thrived here for millions of years before turning into fossil fuel. Point 3 discusses the many meteorites found under Antarctica's icy surface. These aren't just ordinary rocks, they come from space, with some even linked to Mars.

One meteorite, called ALH804001, is the oldest object in our solar system, around 4.5 billion years old. In 1996, this meteorite became famous when scientists found microfossils in it, hinting that there might have been life on Mars when it broke off and landed on Earth.

These claims have driven ongoing efforts to search for life on Mars. The meteorite also gave scientists the chance to study Mars' atmosphere and volcanic activity, uncovering minerals that only form in water, proving that Mars once had plenty of flowing water. How do scientists know so much about Earth's past atmosphere? The answer lies in the ancient ice beneath Antarctica.

 Here, the ice has remained frozen for thousands, or even millions, of years, keeping air bubbles from that time intact. To study these, scientists drill out entire ice cores, and the deeper they go, the further back in time they can examine.

Each layer of ice holds air bubbles that capture the atmospheric conditions of each year. These ancient air bubbles have remained untouched, and by analyzing the gases inside them, scientists have been able to recreate a picture of Earth's ancient climate. The ice core, which is a million years old, dates back to a time when Earth's climate cycle changed every 40,000 years. After that, the cycle started changing every 100,000 years, a pattern that continues today. Thanks to these ice cores, predicting Earth's future climate has become much easier, helping scientists forecast when major storms and floods might happen.

Finally, the top discovery on our list is the finding of a huge mountain range beneath Antarctica's ice sheets in 1950. Called the Gambertzef mountain range, it stretches 1,200 kilometers with peaks as high as 3,000 meters. Interestingly, these mountains are quite different from others around the world. Normally, mountains in this area should be very old, but their formation indicates they are not as ancient. The existence of these mountains deep under the ice confuses scientists because mountains usually form from tectonic plate movements, which don't happen in Antarctica. This indicates that the mountains might have risen due to magma beneath the Earth's surface, but there isn't solid proof for this idea yet.