Scientists discover 4 crore years old 1000 km long river system in Antarctica

Geologists have made a discovery in Western Antarctica that has shocked the world. A 40 million year old river water flow system has been discovered here. This river system has been found covered under a sheet of ice. Scientists are saying that millions of years ago a river of about 1 thousand kilometers long flowed here. The surprising thing is that at that time there was such a big climate change on Earth that it completely changed the shape of the planet.

This discovery is being called the biggest discovery in history regarding the changes in the Earth’s weather. The discovery Science Advances in a journal called (via) has been published. According to study co-author Johann Klages from the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research in Germany, if we want to understand the maximum impact of climate change on Earth, then we should learn from even bigger events in history.

The biggest change in the earth’s atmosphere took place in the Eocene era between 34 million and 44 million years ago. The amount of carbon dioxide at that time is said to be double that of the present time. Scientists are saying that if the level of carbon continues to rise like this due to greenhouse gases for the next 150-200 years, then the amount of carbon dioxide that was there at that time will be able to accumulate on the earth.

After the climate change that happened 40 million years ago, when the carbon level started decreasing gradually, glaciers started forming on the earth. Currently, most of the western Antarctica is buried in ice. Therefore, it is difficult to gather information about the rocks buried beneath it. It is difficult to guess the environment of that time without studying the rocks.

In 2017, Johann Klages and his team went on a similar expedition. After drilling to a depth of 100 feet in the seabed, the team found evidence of rocks of two different ages. When the half-life of radioactive elements was measured, it was found that the lower remains were 85 million years old. These were said to be related to the middle Cretaceous period.