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Alpine Antarctica, before the ice

Survey may have unveiled the birthplace of the world’s largest ice sheet

By Sid Perkins

- More than 2 years ago

Deep below the icy surface of East Antarctica lies a mountain range with alpine topography carved by ancient glaciers, a landscape frozen in time for millions of years and rife with clues about the origin and evolution of the world’s largest ice sheet.

IF ANTARCTICA WERE EXPOSED. New ice-penetrating radar surveys of East Antarctica hint that peaks in the now-smothered Gamburtsev Mountains once looked like this glacier-carved vista in Wales.