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Antarctica was lined with trees 15M years ago


27vet

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Courtesy of National Geographic

Christine Dell'Amore

National Geographic News

Published June 20, 2012

An unexpectedly warm period about 15 million years ago temporarily thawed Antarctica, turning the continent green around its edges, a new study says.

Antarctica developed its ice sheets about 34 million years ago. But during the more recent warm period, the interior landscape would've resembled tundrafound in parts of modern-day Chile and New Zealand, and the coasts would've been lined with beeches and a type of conifer.

The surprising evidence comes from "abundant" remains of leaf waxes in sediment cores taken from deep beneath Antarctica's Ross Ice Shelf, said study leader Sarah Feakins, a biogeochemist at the University of Southern California.

antarctica-was-once-green-south-island_55303_600x450.jpg

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/06/120620-green-antarctica-trees-global-warming-science-ancient/

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I love paleo-climatology. There have been periods much warmer than now, contrary to what those who profit from climate change would like us to believe.

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We need to vastly accelerate global warming to help turn the Antarctic back to a nice holiday resort! Who knows, there is probably oil and coal somewhere there ready to exploit! I for one will now switch on all light bulbs in the house and put on the central heating!

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We need to vastly accelerate global warming to help turn the Antarctic back to a nice holiday resort! Who knows, there is probably oil and coal somewhere there ready to exploit! I for one will now switch on all light bulbs in the house and put on the central heating!

Ha, don`t forget to put your other gas meter in and bypass the electric meter first.

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The last time that CO2 levels were as high as today was around 15 million years ago. This is more evidence that we are truly causing a new unprecedented level of climate change. Ignoring this is not going to make it disappear.

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So what,

The last time that CO2 levels were as high as today was around 15 million years ago. This is more evidence that we are truly causing a new unprecedented level of climate change. Ignoring this is not going to make it disappear.

So what. Higher CO2 levels just mean more food for plants and algae in the sea. The algae dies and drops to the bottom of the sea where it turns into coal. So no problems. Plus we have the added bonus of more land under the snow and ice being revealed. Also Flooding is only a problem for people that live next to the sea and rivers. Those people can simply move.

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So what,So what. Higher CO2 levels just mean more food for plants and algae in the sea. The algae dies and drops to the bottom of the sea where it turns into coal. So no problems. Plus we have the added bonus of more land under the snow and ice being revealed. Also Flooding is only a problem for people that live next to the sea and rivers. Those people can simply move.

Higher CO2 may have a temporary benefit to plants but that will be quickly outstripped by the acidification of the oceans and rain water. Seriously, where do you people get this stuff? and 27vet. Yes there have been periods warmer than this ... how was the human population doing back then?

"Maybe the earth just wanted plastic. Now it has plastic, we can go!" - George Carlin

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@jgorman - So who caused the warming 15 million years ago. IT wasn't us!

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@jgorman - So who caused the warming 15 million years ago. IT wasn't us!

Why ask me? Google it yourself. You may just learn something.

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Why ask me? Google it yourself. You may just learn something.

'Primi et ultimi in bello' Living up to the family motto then, I see.

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Go to http://www.scotese.com/climate.htm you will find some answers there. The graph in the link says it all. Right now the Earth is coming out of a glacial period and going into an interglacial period. In general the Earth has been much warmer in the past.

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:huh:
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I remember 5 years ago my friend had hair & now he has none its amazing what can happen over a short period of time.

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I bet there's a lot of oil and coal beneath all that ice. Too bad for the Antarctic Treaty which bans drilling oil and mining for minerals.

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