“The world’s geological history is trapped in Antarctica.” How is the study of this region useful to us?

Six hundred and fifty million years ago, there existed a southern super-continent named Gondwana. There was no life and Gondwana centred roughly around present-day Antarctica. At that time things are quite different and the human beings had not arrived on the global scene. There the climate was much warmer and there was only a variety of flora and fauna.

There was a time when India and Antarctica were the part of same landmass. The human beings had arrived on the earth billions of year later. Gondwana thrived for 500 million years. Finally it broke into separate countries as they exist today. It was the stage when dinosaurs were wiped out and the age of mammals had started. India pushed northwards and the Himalayas were formed. South America drifted off to join North America. It opened up the Drake Passage and created a cold circumpolar current. It turned Antarctica frigid, desolate and at the bottom of the world. Thus the study of Antarctica helps us in knowing the geological history of the world.

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