A team of researchers has uncovered new evidence suggesting that during the Cretaceous period, Antarctica experienced frequent wildfires, which destroyed vegetation and shaped its terrestrial environments more than previously thought.

The results of the study showed that this natural phenomenon is due to the large volcanic activity that the continent experienced during the age of dinosaurs 75 million years ago.

The study, conducted by researchers from Chile and Brazil, was recently published in the journal Frontiers in Earth Science.

Before it was covered in ice, Antarctica was green in the Cretaceous period (Getty Images)

Green then covered with ice

Antarctica is known today as a vast ice continent located in the southern hemisphere of our planet, where temperatures remain low throughout the year, with a slight increase in each summer season from October to March each year.

Despite its size, which accounts for about 10% of the area of all continents today, its geographical location has undergone significant changes over previous geological eras as a result of the continuous tectonic activity of the Earth's plates, according to a report published on the website "Viz.org" (Phys.org).

Previous excavation evidence has shown that tens of millions of years ago Antarctica was not white with thick layers of ice as we know it today, but rather green with forests and grasslands that provided natural habitats for a wide range of ecosystems, ranging from dinosaurs to smaller mammals at the time.

Researchers have found ample evidence of large fires occurring at different periods and in large parts of the continent, but the causes of these fires have remained controversial among scientists.

Imaginary depiction of ancient forest fires in Antarctica (Murilio Olivera)

Frequent fires due to volcanoes

In this new study, researchers from the Instituto Antarctica Chile (INACH) and the Brazilian Antarctic Program (Proantar) found additional evidence of this phenomenon in fossilized plant fossils on King George Island, located northwest of Antarctica.

This evidence, according to a report published on the Polar Journal, confirms that the island was covered with a rainforest of conifers, ferns and flowering plants, and that fires were frequent in the Late Cretaceous period spanning the period from 100 million to 66 million years in the past.

In this study, the researchers confirmed that the intense volcanic activity experienced in Antarctica during the Cretaceous period, which contributed to the formation of a large part of its rock layers, was the driving force behind the ancient forest fires on the continent.

However, contrary to what might be expected, the vegetation was not burned by molten lava flows from active volcanoes, but by the exposure of vegetation to ash clouds and lava clouds emitted from the volcanic mountains, which were preserved in geological records through very fine volcanic ash deposits, such as tuff, a type of porous and soft rock formed from the deposition of volcanic ash.

According to the researchers, these fires, which devoured the vegetation cover of Antarctica millions of years ago, have played a major role in the evolution and biodiversity of plants and flowers in these regions of the world.