Piece of ancient oceans Earth preserved underground for 20,000 years

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Scientists are discovering undisturbed seawater pockets dating back to the last ice age 20,000 years ago in the Maldives – and claiming they will provide clues to our planet's climate change.

  • Scientists found the sample virtually undisturbed in limestone deposits
  • The coin is believed to date from the last Ice Age 20,000 years ago.
  • The team has extracted water from an ancient rock of the Indian Ocean
  • When they examined the sample, they found that it was much more salty and chlorinated than the conditions encountered in the modern ocean.

By Victoria Bell for Mailonline

Published on: 12:48 pm EDT, May 28, 2019 | Update: 14:01 EDT, May 28, 2019

A 20,000 year old seawater sample, virtually intact, which represents the first remnant of the last Ice Age of the Earth has been discovered in the Indian Ocean.

The researchers discovered the ice by collecting samples of sediment cores from the underwater limestone deposits of the Maldives archipelago in South Asia.

Their work revealed distinct hydrological properties observed only in the glacial sea water of the last ice age or the last glacial maximum (LGM).

The team at the University of Chicago says its work could lead to a better understanding of the changing world and improved climate models.

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A 20,000-year-old sample of sea water, representing the first remnant of the last Ice Age of the Earth, has been discovered. Here, Assistant Professor Clara Blättler with a sea-water flask dating from the last Ice Age, about 20,000 years ago

A 20,000-year-old sample of sea water, representing the first remnant of the last Ice Age of the Earth, has been discovered. Here, Assistant Professor Clara Blättler with a sea-water flask dating from the last Ice Age, about 20,000 years ago

During an expedition to the Indian Ocean aboard the research vessel JOIDES Resolution, the researchers drilled deep into the Indian Ocean and extracted rocky carrots.

It is within these cores that they have found traces of the ancient ocean, absorbed by porous and preserved rock formations ever since.

The small sample was extracted from an ancient rock formation in the Indian Ocean and cut into pieces before being placed in a hydraulic press that extracts the remaining moisture from its pores.

The team tested the samples aboard their vessel and found that the water was much saltier than that found in the Indian Ocean today.

Back in the lab, they performed more specific tests to examine the elements and isotopes, or variants of a particular element.

The team discovered that all their results seemed out of place in the modern ocean, according to the New Scientist.

They said the samples indicated that they came from a time when the ocean was much saltier, colder and more chlorinated.

These are conditions that scientists believe seawater would have been during the last glacial maximum, when sea levels fell to hundreds of feet below current levels.

At the time of the last ice age, vast layers of ice covered much of North America, northern Europe, and Asia. Researchers discovered the ice by collecting samples of sediment cores from submarine limestone deposits in the Maldives in South Asia.

At the time of the last ice age, vast layers of ice covered much of North America, northern Europe, and Asia. Researchers discovered the ice by collecting samples of sediment cores from submarine limestone deposits in the Maldives in South Asia.

"Everything seems to indicate that we now have a piece of this 20,000 year old ocean," says study author, Clara Blättler, assistant professor of geophysical science at the University of Chicago.

For decades, scientists have been studying the last ice age of the Earth, also called the last glacial maximum, which would have lasted 100,000 years, examining coral fossils and seabed sediments.

If all the results are valid, the new samples could provide scientists with clues about the ocean's reaction to the geophysical fluctuations of the last ice age.

The research could also help to better understand these changes and to improve climate models.

Ms Blättler said that "any model you build of climate must be able to accurately predict the past".

The study is to be published in the July 2019 issue of the journal Geochimica and Cosmochimica Acta.

WHAT HAS THE BRITTANY SEEN IN THE COURSE OF THE FINEST AGE OF ice?

The last glacial maximum was about 22,000 years ago, when much of Europe was covered with ice.

During the ice age, which ended about 11,500 years ago, ice covered about 30% of the world's land.

In Great Britain, ice and water flow propagate as far south as the Bristol Channel.

Average temperatures were 5 ° C (8 ° F) lower than those today, allowing a thick ice cover of one kilometer to cover much of the country.

The temperature remained below 0 ° C all year round in the northern regions, especially in Scotland, allowing the water table to remain on the ground all year round.

The ice has linked Britain to Scandinavia, allowing a host of large wild animals to roam freely between the UK and continental Europe.

During this period, Britain would have seen woolly mammoths, giant deer and wolves wandering in its icy planes.

Large glacial lakes covered Manchester, Doncaster, Newcastle and Peterborough and much of the country was uninhabitable for humans.

Fast-flowing ice corridors, called ice currents, flowed east to Edinburgh and west to Glasgow.

All of Ireland was covered with ice, which flowed into the sea of ​​Ireland where it met the Welsh ice, then sailed south towards the Scilly Islands.

Much of Scotland, Wales, the Midlands, and the north of England was covered with perpetual ice.

Cambridge, which was covered by a huge glacial lake, was the most southerly region severely affected by the icy climate.

Over time, ice and its large flow of water have shaped the land of Britain, forming geological scars still visible today.

These include glacial ridges carved by moving ice and winding rock flows that have traveled for miles across the country.

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