Gale
06-12-2010, 07:50 AM
The first detailed pictures of one of the planet's last unexplored frontiers — a vast mountain range that rivals the Alps in majesty buried underneath the ice of Antarctica — were revealed by scientists this week.
The rugged peaks soar to more than 8,000 feet (2,400 meters). They are buried beneath solid ice more than a mile (1.6 kilometers) thick, deep within Antarctica's eastern interior.
The existence of this mountain range, called the Gamburtsev Mountains, shocked the Russian scientists who first discovered it more than 50 years ago, and mystery still shrouds the nearly 750-mile- (1,200-km-) long series of subglacial peaks...What the pictures reveal, Bell said, is spectacular: a dramatic landscape of rocky summits, deep river valleys, and liquid, not frozen, lakes, all hidden beneath the ice.
Mysterious Mountains Hidden Beneath Antarctic Ice Revealed (http://www.livescience.com/environment/antarctica-hidden-mountains-oap-100610.html)
Liquid lakes, now that is fascinating!!
The rugged peaks soar to more than 8,000 feet (2,400 meters). They are buried beneath solid ice more than a mile (1.6 kilometers) thick, deep within Antarctica's eastern interior.
The existence of this mountain range, called the Gamburtsev Mountains, shocked the Russian scientists who first discovered it more than 50 years ago, and mystery still shrouds the nearly 750-mile- (1,200-km-) long series of subglacial peaks...What the pictures reveal, Bell said, is spectacular: a dramatic landscape of rocky summits, deep river valleys, and liquid, not frozen, lakes, all hidden beneath the ice.
Mysterious Mountains Hidden Beneath Antarctic Ice Revealed (http://www.livescience.com/environment/antarctica-hidden-mountains-oap-100610.html)
Liquid lakes, now that is fascinating!!