Comments on: Ancient Climate Change Meant Antarctica Was Once Covered with Palm Trees

By: Dr. John Smallberries

Dr. John Smallberries — Sat, 04 Aug 2012 23:53:06 +0000

well, who’s to say that antarctica wasn’t the south pole way back when? crustal shifts are quite possible. antarctica might’ve been in an “australian” position in the past.

By: Benjamin Baldwin

Benjamin Baldwin — Sat, 04 Aug 2012 03:58:53 +0000

Perhaps these types of climate changes would be more comprehensible if one takes into account the periodic shifts of the magnetic north pole, which takes place every 13,500 years or so. For instance, within the last 26,000 years, the north pole has resided in the Yukon Territory as well as the Hudson Bay area. Antarctica has likely been warm more than a couple of times. It makes a decent candidate for the lost continent mentioned in widespread tribal records.

By: WriterSP

WriterSP — Sat, 04 Aug 2012 02:12:23 +0000

John Collins, I hear you. There has been some speculation that earth experienced a major impact in the remote past that caused the crust to slip on a global scale, shifting previously equatorial regions into polar realms and vice versa. I would love to find out what ancient life or artifacts might lie beneath the Antactic ice.

By: Colin Schultz

Colin Schultz — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 02:41:47 +0000

Though the continents during the Eocene were much different than they are today, the differences were mostly due to changes in sea surface height rather than plate tectonics.

The beautiful paleogeographic photos of Dr. Ronald Blakey show that during this period the continents were more-or-less in their present positions: http://www2.nau.edu/rcb7/50moll.jpg

Blakey’s site: http://cpgeosystems.com/index.html

By: John Collins

John Collins — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 01:17:11 +0000

Where was Antarctica relative to the earth’s equator at 53M yrs ago? Are you assuming no movement in the earth’s crust in the intervening interval?

By: janye

janye — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 17:43:55 +0000

Thanks for the link.

By: Colin Schultz

Colin Schultz — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 17:35:31 +0000

Though there may have been some specific regions on Earth that got colder during this time (which I just can’t seem to find), the general trend was that the whole planet went through a burst of sudden warming. Also, there wasn’t such a huge difference between equatorial and polar temperatures like there is now.

http://pangea.stanford.edu/researchgroups/paleoclimate/research/eocene-latitudinal-gradients

By: janye

janye — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 17:16:22 +0000

The Antarctic area was warm. Was it cold somewhere else on earth? Where?

By: Colin Schultz

Colin Schultz — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 17:15:40 +0000

Thanks for the careful eyes!

By: Emmett Schmarsow

Emmett Schmarsow — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 16:42:34 +0000

Proofread! THird paragraph — it would be deep BELOW the surface, not deep BLOW the surface.

Thanks.
/E