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SUMMARY:When Antarctica was green: Fossil plants reveal Antarctica’s cli
 mate history - Jane Francis\, Director\, British Antarctic Survey
DTSTART:20151029T130000Z
DTEND:20151029T140000Z
UID:TALK61121@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:38889
DESCRIPTION:Although the polar regions are now covered in ice and snow\, l
 ife was very different in Antarctica millions of years ago – Antarctica 
 was green. Fossil plants (fossil leaves\, wood\, pollen\, seeds and flower
 s) preserved in rocks from Antarctica show that the continent was once cov
 ered in lush green forests that flourished in warm humid climates\, even t
 hough the continent was situated over the South Pole. The fossils represen
 t ancient relatives of modern Southern Hemisphere forests but at times (e.
 g. ~90 million years ago during the Cretaceous) warmth-loving plants simil
 ar to those that grow today near the Equator survived at 70°S. The last A
 ntarctic forests survived as dwarf tundra shrubs in the Beardmore Glacier 
 region\, only 300 miles from the South Pole\, even as ice sheets spread ac
 ross the continent about 12 million years ago. Antarctic plant fossils con
 tain a rich store of palaeoclimate information about past polar environmen
 ts and provide us with a window into life at high latitudes in our future 
 warm world.
LOCATION:Department of Plant Sciences\, Large Lecture Theatre
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