Researchers from the Newcastle University have discovered a 3-km deep trench beneath the ice in Antarctica. The valley is 300-km long and is up to 25-km across and, in places, 2000-meters below sea level. By comparison, Arizona’s Grand Canyon is 1.8-km deep, 446-km long and up to 29-km wide. The valley and the mountains that surround it were formed millions of years ago by an ice field similar to those of the present-day Antarctic Peninsula, or those of Arctic Canada and Alaska.

The Newcastle team mapped the area using a combination of radar and satellite imagery. According to Dr Neil Ross, lecturer in Physical Geography at Newcastle University, “We had acquired ice penetrating radar data from both ends of this huge hidden valley, but we had no information to tell us what was in between. Satellite data was used to fill the gap, because despite being covered beneath several kilometers of ice, the valley is so vast that it can be seen from space.”

The find gives scientists new information about where and how the West Antarctic Ice Sheet originated and grew. It also provides information about the levels of ice in the sheet and what it might look like in a warmer global climate.

“To me, this just goes to demonstrate how little we still know about the surface of our own planet. The discovery and exploration of hidden, previously-unknown landscapes is still possible and incredibly exciting, even now,” said Dr. Ross.

The findings, presented in the paper “The Ellsworth Subglacial Highlands: Inception and retreat of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet,” can be found in the latest edition of the Geological Society of America Bulletin.

Source: Newcastle University