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Glacial History in Antarctica

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Leslie! I got goosebumps hearing you talk about the caroling on Christmas- that was so awesome- can't wait to hear the audio :) Question: How old are the oldest glacial rocks found so far by anyone in Antarctica? And the oldest fossil algae? Great journaling, keep up the great work! Smiles, Lollie

Fri, 01/14/2011 - 10:16

Lesley Urasky

Hi, Lollie,
Probably the oldest dated are from the Sirius formation. They are thought to be 10s of millions of years old, but for the most part, they have not been well dated. From John Stone's research, the glacial erratics have been as old as 15,000-20,000 years (he's looking only at the last glacial maximum). Those algae have been around 8,000 years old. They're actually no fossilized. It's been more like they've been "freeze-dried" if you will. They look like giant flakes of oatmeal - roughly the same texture and size.