The researchers estimate that carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere were well over 1000 parts per million in those days, compared to 400+ ppm today. Antarctica and Australia were much closer together.
Antarctica was covered in rainforest in the time of the dinosaurs, according to a new study, Metro News reports.
Researchers have found evidence the South Pole had a climate and forests similar to New Zealand today in a startling discovery. The team discovered soil from an ancient rainforest from the Cretaceous period within 900 km of the South Pole.
The analysis carried out by an international team of researchers of roots, pollen and spores shows the world was a lot warmer than previously thought.
Professor Tina van de Flierdt, from the Department of Earth Science & Engineering at Imperial College, London, said: ‘The preservation of this 90-million-year-old forest is exceptional, but even more surprising is the world it reveals. ‘Even during months of darkness, swampy temperate rainforests were able to grow close to the South Pole, revealing an even warmer climate than we expected.’
The heyday of the dinosaurs was the warmest period on Earth in the past 140 million years, with temperatures at 35 degrees and sea level 170 metres higher than today.
Despite the Antarctic Circle living through a four-month polar night, researchers discovered evidence it was once a temperate rainforest. The evidence for the Antarctic forest comes from a core of sediment drilled into the seabed near the Pine Island and Thwaites glaciers in West Antarctica.
Full report here.
via Tallbloke’s Talkshop
April 2, 2020 at 04:39AM
Iowa Climate Science Education 