Antarctica has been buried in ice for roughly 34 million years, while the Arctic did not develop major ice sheets until around 5 million years ago, a gap of some 29 million years that has long puzzled Earth scientists.
A new international study published in Science finds the answer lies far beneath the surface, in slow waves within Earth's mantle that lifted East Antarctica high enough for ice to survive long before the planet was cold enough to guarantee it.
Key benefits:
- Slow-moving mantle waves, set in motion when Antarctica separated from Africa during the Jurassic, raised East Antarctica over more than 100 million years
- Ice needs ground above roughly 2 km to persist, and by 34 million years ago almost half the Gamburtsev Mountains had crossed that line, up from below 1.5 km fifty million years earlier
- The study attributes the 29-million-year gap between the poles to this head start in elevation, which the Arctic never had
Read more: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260823094154.htm