Scientists Find the World’s Oldest Ice, Dating Back 6 Million Years
Raising the Foro craters at Allan Hills, Antarctica, 2022-2023. (Photo: Julia Marks Peterson/Coldex)
A team of American scientists working with Center for the oldest ice exploration (COLDEX) Discover the world’s oldest directly dated ice and air. The ice and air bubbles trapped inside the Allan Hills region in East Antarctica date back 6 million years, according to study Published last month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Not only does this historic discovery exceed previous ice cores by more than 3 million years, according to the research team, but it also provides important information about the Earth’s geological history.
“Ice cores are like time machines that allow scientists to glimpse what our planet was like in the past,” says Sarah Shackleton, lead author and a scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Princeton. Notice In a statement issued by Oregon State University (OSU). “Allan Hills cores help us travel much further back than we ever imagined.”
To date the sample, the researchers exploited air bubbles within the ice and carefully measured radioactive decay in argon isotopes. The team then analyzed oxygen isotopes within the ice core, allowing them to determine that the Allan Hills region had experienced long-term cooling of about 22 degrees Fahrenheit during the Pliocene epoch. By studying these ice cores, scientists can derive insights into the levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and the heat content of the oceans throughout ancient history. In turn, such research could benefit our contemporary understanding of natural climate change.
“We knew the ice was ancient in this region,” added Ed Brock, director of COLDEX and a paleoclimatologist at Ohio State University. “Initially, we were hoping to find ice up to 3 million years old, or perhaps a little older, but this discovery far exceeded our expectations.”
Amid further research into the collected sample, the Coldex team will return to Allan Hill in order to drill more core samples and, hopefully, find more ancient ice.
“Given the amazing ancient ice we have discovered in the Allan Hills, we have also designed a comprehensive new long-term study of this region to try to extend the records even further in time, which we hope to conduct between 2026 and 2031,” Brock explained.
To learn more about the team’s research and its impact, explore Complete study In Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
A team of American scientists has discovered the world’s oldest ice in the Allan Hill region of East Antarctica.
Alan Hills, 2022-2023. (Photo: Julia Marks Peterson/Coldex)
The ancient ice and the air bubbles trapped in it date back 6 million years, providing insight into the Earth’s geological history.
An Antarctic ice core 6 million years old. (Courtesy Coldex)
All photos via The Ohio State University Press Room.
sources: Scientists have discovered the oldest air on record trapped in 6 million-year-old Antarctic ice; Six-million-year-old ice discovered in Antarctica provides an unprecedented window into a warming Earth; 6 million-year-old ice discovered in Antarctica breaks records, and there is ancient air trapped inside it
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