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/Cretaceous
The 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 > > > > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- A/Prof Russell Standish Phone 0425 253119 (mobile) Mathematics UNSW SYDNEY 2052 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Australia http://www.hpcoders.com.au ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
