The Present Is Not the Key to the Past: A Polar Forest from the Permian of Antarctica

• Published in: Science
• Main Authors: Taylor, Edith L., Taylor, Thomas N., Cúneo, N. Rubén
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 1992
• Subjects: Antarc*; Antarctica; Beardmore Glacier
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.257.5077.1675; https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.257.5077.1675

An in situ Upper Permian fossil forest in the central Transantarctic Mountains near the Beardmore Glacier includes 15 permineralized trunks in growth position; the paleolatitude of the site was approximately 80° to 85° south. Numerous leaves of the seed fern Glossopteris are present in the shale in which the trunks are rooted. The trunks are permineralized and tree rings reveal that the forest was a rapidly growing and young forest, persisting in an equable, strongly seasonal climate—a scenario that does not fit with some climate reconstructions for this time period.