Mystery Behind Antarctica Mountain Range Hidden For 500 Million Years Solved

Scientists have solved the mystery behind the mountain range buried under ice in East Antarctica for the last 500 million years. The mysterious and ancient Gamburtsev Subglacial Mountains are similar in shape and scale to the Alps, but not visible due to being trapped beneath kilometres of ice.

First discovered by a Soviet expedition using seismic techniques in 1958, the Gamburtsev Mountains are buried beneath the highest point of the East Antarctic ice sheet. While most mountain ranges are eventually worn down by erosion or tectonic events, the Gamburtsev Mountains are preserved by a deep layer of ice, making it one of the best-preserved mountain belts on Earth.

Mountains are formed by the collision of two tectonic plates and continue to change over time. The Himalayas are the biggest example after the Indian Plate and Eurasian Plate collided 50 million years ago. This range is rising even today, but Antarctica has been stable all this time, prompting the scientists to look for the secret behind it.

According to a study published in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters, the mountain range first came into existence 500 million years ago when the Gondwana supercontinent formed from colliding tectonic plates.

"The collision triggered the flow of hot, partly molten rock deep beneath the mountains," the authors wrote. "As the mountains continued to take shape, the crust thickened and heated, before becoming unstable and collapsing under their own weight." Other forces led the mountains to partially collapse as well.

Also Read | PETA Demands Renaming World Milk Day To 'Bovine Mammary Secretion Day'

To further ascertain their hypothesis, the researchers turned to zircon, a mineral that acts like a geological stopwatch. These tiny crystals can survive for billions of years and contain uranium, which decays at a known rate, allowing scientists to determine their age with precision.

These grains recorded peak mountain-building around 580 million years ago and the start of structural collapse by 500 million years ago.

While gathering rock samples from the mountain remains difficult due to the logistics of drilling through the ice, the model developed by scientists offers new predictions about future exploration.