Researchers said on Tuesday they have detected buried under the continent's ice sheet a vast ancient landscape, replete with valleys and ridges, apparently shaped by rivers before being engulfed by glaciation long ago. Ancient palm tree pollen has been discovered from Antarctica, not far around the coast from our study site," Jamieson added. Some previous studies similarly have revealed ancient landscapes beneath Antarctica's ice including mountains and highlands, though the landscape discovered in the new study was the first of its type. Right before 34 million years ago, Antarctica's landscape and flora likely resembled today's cold temperate rainforests of Tasmania, New Zealand and South America's Patagonia region, Ross added. When that ice growth occurred, the conditions between the base of the ice and the landscape changed to become very cold - and in this way it was no longer able to erode our landscape.

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Persons: Stewart Jamieson, Antarctica's, Jamieson, Neil Ross, Ross, Will Dunham, Daniel Wallis Organizations: Durham University, Handout, REUTERS, Rights, Antarctica, Nature Communications, Newcastle University, Thomson Locations: Belgium, Wilkes Land, East Antarctica, Antarctica, East Antarctica's Wilkes Land, ., Maryland, England, Patagonia, Greenland, Tasmania , New Zealand, South, Africa, South America, Australia