This is the ancient scene under the Antarctic ice sheet.

Late last year, scientists revealed the discovery of a Vast hidden landscapes of hills and valleysCarved by ancient rivers, they have been “frozen in time” under the Antarctic ice for millions of years. The landscape, which spans an area larger than the surface of Belgium, has likely remained intact for more than 34 million years. However, British and American researchers have warned that gradual warming could expose them.

“It’s an undiscovered landscape: no one has ever set eyes on it,” Stuart Jamieson, a glaciologist at Durham University in the UK and lead author of the study, told AFP. The terrain lies beneath the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. Less famous than the surface of Mars, “The interesting thing is that it was hiding in plain sight,” Jamieson explained, adding that the researchers used not new data but a new approach to uncover its presence.

To “see” under the ice, scientists used a technique called wireless probeThe plane sends radio waves into the ice and analyzes their echoes. However, crossing the continent, which is larger than Europe, would be a huge challenge. So the researchers used existing satellite images of the surface to map valleys and ridges more than two kilometers deep.

The undulating surface of the ice creates a “ghost image” that gently extends over these more prominent features. By combining this data with radioelectric survey data, a picture of River landscape of deep valleys and steep-topped hillssimilar to some that exist today on Earth. Jamieson compared viewing the landscape to looking out the window of a long-haul flight and seeing a mountainous region, specifically Snowdonia in North Wales.

Uncovered area, 32,000 square kilometers, It was home to trees, forests, and possibly animals before it was covered in ice and became “frozen in time.” It’s hard to pinpoint when sunlight last touched this hidden world, but researchers are confident it was at least 14 million years ago. Jamieson notes that these landscapes were last seen more than 34 million years ago, when Antarctica first froze.

In addition to the landscape, some researchers have already found A city-sized lake under the Antarctic ice, Suggesting that there are other ancient landscapes to discover. However, the study authors warn that global warming could threaten the newly discovered landscapes. Atmospheric conditions similar to those that prevailed 14 to 34 million years ago, when temperatures were 3 to 7 degrees Celsius higher than today, are beginning to appear.

Jamieson noted that the landscape is hundreds of kilometres from the ice edge. Any potential exposure would be “too far away.”The fact that retreating ice during past warming periods, such as that of the Pliocene epoch 3 to 4.5 million years ago, has not exposed the landscape is cause for hope. However, it remains unclear what the tipping point for “runaway reaction” melting is.