Or more likely, the icesheets weren't always there. For instance,
during the time of the dinosaurs, Antartica was still at the South
Pole, but had a largely subtropical climate with forests and dinosaurs
hunting through them. see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CretaceousThe glaciation of Antartica only started with the breakup of
Gondwanaland, leading to the establishment of the circumpolar current
which prevents heat traveling into the heart of the continent from the
tropics.
Also the world is a fair bit cooler now, than it was then - not sure
of the exact reasons for that.
In any case for the gas/oil deposits, its what the climate was during
the Carboniferous that is important. IIRC, the Carboniferous had a
warm climate, with some glaciations towards the end of the period.
Cheers
On Sun, Aug 12, 2007 at 02:20:14PM -0600, Nicholas Thompson wrote:
> QUOTING OWEN:
>
> "Its interesting that there are large gas/oil reserves under the ice
> caps. Yet how did that happen if these result from organic decay?
> Dyson also has an answer for that: there may be earth-core activities
> that contribute a great deal to oil."
>
> I think I can answer this one.
>
> "Because antartica used to be at the equator...."
>
> Nick
>
>
>
>
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