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Thursday, October 28, 2010

Photo: Tiny Fossils Reveal Warm Antarctic Past


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Fourteen-million-year-old fossils of ancient crustacean-like animals were found recently in an ancient lake bed in the Dry Valleys region in Antarctica.

The diversity of the pinhead-size ostracods (above, one of the finds) are likely the last remnants of a warmer Antarctica, before a massive and intense climate cooling set in, scientists say.

Image courtesy Mark Williams/University of Leicester