Antarctica once had a rainforest just 900 km from the South Pole

A sediment core pulled from the seabed off West Antarctica has preserved evidence of a forest that grew near the South Pole about 90 million years ago, when the continent was warm enough to support a wet, temperate ecosystem. The core contains fossilised roots, pollen and spores from vegetation that lived at a latitude of roughly 82 degrees south during the Cretaceous Period. The discovery offers a rare record of what Antarctica looked like before the continent became dominated by its vast ice sheet.The ancient forest also endured several months of darkness each year, yet climate evidence suggests average annual temperatures were around 12°C. Later work on the same core uncovered tiny pieces of amber, adding another clue that resin-producing trees once grew in this unlikely polar setting.