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Ancient Antarctica

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  • 08-02-2011 10:05am
    #1
    Wibbs
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,126 Mod ✭✭✭✭


    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12378934

    It always intrigued me how such flora(and fauna) survived the 6 month of darkness. Now in that article they mention experiments with Ginkgo which is all very well, but the temps must have really dropped after months of darkness which they dont seem to have taken into account? They raised the temp and co2 but did they allow for the thermal loss of 6 months of continous darkness? Even today tropical rainforests can drop to quite chilly temps at night depending on weather. Temperate rainforests even more and they only have to wait 8-12 hours for solar heating.


    I will say of the ginkgo, they're one robust bugger. I have 2 in my garden and for the last 15 years I've judged when spring is actually coming by when they'll bud. It can vary from year to year by up to 2 months. They seem to use more environmental variables than other trees to trigger new growth.

    Interestingly they mention that one of the researchers found a fossil layer of ancient beech that was only 3 million years old. That was an :eek: moment for me. I didn't realise it had been that warm that recently.

    Rejoice in the awareness of feeling stupid, for that’s how you end up learning new things. If you’re not aware you’re stupid, you probably are.

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