Purdue News Photo
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This image, based on newly obtained core samples from the ocean floor near Australia and Antarctica, shows a revised conception of current flow past those continents around 33 million years ago. At that time, the continents were just beginning to drift apart, and scientists have theorized that a warm-water current flowing southward along the Australian coast reached Antarctica, keeping that continent largely ice-free. But fossil plankton in the core samples indicate that a cold current flowed past Antarctica for about two million years before the continent developed its mile-thick ice cap, suggesting that the ice formed as a result of some other mechanism – possibly a variation in greenhouse gases in the ancient atmosphere.
(Purdue University graphic/Huber laboratory)
The story accompanying this graphic can be seen by clicking this link to Huber.Antarctica
For more information about photographs, send e-mail to:
David Umberger
Associate Director
Purdue News Service
umberger@purdue.edu
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