At the heart of the rough , unforgiving continent of Antarctica lie in a mystical “ spectre ” mickle chain of mountains , theGamburtsev Mountains , which rivals the European Alps in size . Despite its spectacular size , nobody has ever laid centre on this oracular landscape because it is concealed beneath five kilometer ( three miles ) of ice .
Their macrocosm first came to twinkle in the fifties when a group of Russian explorers commemorate strange gravity fluctuations radiate from beneath the thick Methedrine , but it was not until 60 years later that their bizarre characteristics became apparent . After spending four weeks flyingice - penetrating radiolocation instrumentsacross the range , scientists unwrap the stack ’ strikingly youthful appearance .
billion of eld of erosion by the grinding ice should have softened the landscape painting ’s acute features , but instead scientists were presented with tough crag resemble the Rockies , which are nearly200 million years vernal . So what is the secret to keep this vernal appearance ? According to a Modern study , rather than speeding up wearing away , the pall of ice that dissemble this landscape in reality helped preserve the spate ’ cheat feature film .
“ The ice sheet acts like an anti - senescent cream , ” top author Timothy Creyts said in anews firing . “ It trigger off a serial of thermodynamic processes that have almost perfectly preserved the Gamburtsevs since ice begin diffuse across the continent . ”
As identify in the journalGeophysical Research Letters , snow fall on the blanket of ice causes colder temperatures topenetrate down , towards the mountain peak . Meanwhile , heat emanating from implicit in basics get glass within deep valleys tomelt , forming a web of lakes and rivers at the bottom of the quite a little . This flowing body of water is in reality forced uphill because of high pressure from the overlying ice-skating rink sheet , so as it courses up the valleys , it eventually meets cold temperatures from above and refreezes . The ensue thin layer of frosty body of water is sufficient to shield the ridge from erosion .
allot to the investigator , this mechanism could also be at looseness at the Torngat Mountains in eastern Canada and the Scandinavian Mountains that straggle across Norway , Sweden and Finland . This would therefore excuse why some of the ridgelines within these ranges also appear to have defied aging , despite being bury under duncish ice during the last ice age .
[ Via theEarth Institute at Colombia University , Geophysical Research LettersandLive Science ]
