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Antarctic Ice Core over 500,000 Years Old Extracted CAMBRIDGE, UK, March 14, 2002 (ENS) - Ice more than half a million years old has been taken from deep below the East Antarctic ice sheet, setting what is believed to be a new record. The multi-nation European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica (EPICA) drilling at Dome Concordia has recovered ice believed to be around 530,000 years old, according to the British Antarctic Survey. Previously the Russian Vostok ice core, dating back 420,000 years, was regarded as the oldest ice to be drilled from Antarctica. The EPICA team, from 10...

Does a giant crater lie beneath the Antarctic ice? Signs of an ancient impact could help to explain a mass extinction. Mark Peplow A dense bit of rock in the Antarctic (orange circle) seems to be circled by a crater. © Ohio State University Evidence of a cataclysmic meteorite impact has been unearthed in Antarctica, according to researchers who say the collision could possibly explain the greatest mass extinction ever seen on our planet. But scientists contacted by news@nature.com say they are sceptical, as no signs of such an enormous impact have been found in other, well-studied areas of Antarctica....