How deep Earth waves lifted Antarctica into a frozen wasteland
In short: Millions of years ago, Earth was 5ºC warmer than today, yet Antarctica was already freezing. Scientists have long wondered how a lush continent became an ice sheet while the Arctic remained temperate. The answer lies not in the atmosphere, but in powerful, slow-moving waves deep beneath the continent's crust.
The mystery of Antarctica's early glaciation has long puzzled researchers. While the Arctic's large ice sheets only formed roughly five million years ago, Antarctica began its descent into an icehouse state much earlier, around 34 million years ago. This occurred even though global temperatures were significantly higher than present levels, with the Earth being approximately 5ºC warmer than it is today.
A recent international study published in Science suggests that the catalyst was geological rather than purely atmospheric. Following the separation of Antarctica and Africa during the Jurassic Period, 201 to 143 million years ago, powerful forces deep within the Earth began to reshape the landscape. Researchers identified 'mantle waves'—slow-moving waves that travel beneath continents after tectonic plates separate—as a primary driver of this change.
As these waves passed beneath East Antarctica over a period of more than 100 million years, they gradually lifted the land. This process created a high plateau, an escarpment, and the Gamburtsev Mountains. By about 45 million years ago, large portions of East Antarctica had reached a critical elevation of roughly 2 km, a height sufficient for mountain glaciers to develop and expand. Once these glaciers took hold, their bright surfaces reflected more sunlight, further cooling the region and helping to seed the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. Today, this massive ice sheet holds enough frozen water to raise global sea levels by about 52 meters if it were to melt entirely.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: How Antarctica Froze Over
- Also: Forces deep inside Earth helped Antarctica freeze before the Arctic
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