SCOTTISH scientists have made the extraordinary discovery that Antarctica’s landscape was not formed by billions of tonnes of icy glaciers, but by running rivers during the period before the continent was buried under ice.

A study by researchers from Edinburgh University working with colleagues at Durham University has revealed that the South Pole continent’s mountains and valleys, mostly covered by ice up to 4 kilometres thick, were formed millions of years ago.

The findings could have implications for the study of climate change which is affecting Antarctica as well as the Arctic regions – ice losses from Antarctica have increased global sea levels by 7.6 mm since 1992, with two fifths of this rise (3 mm) coming in the last five years alone. Most of this came from the huge Pine Island and Thwaites Glaciers, which are retreating rapidly due to ocean melting.

The new study shows that the evolution of the landscape took place after Antarctica’s landmass separated from that of Australia, India and Africa, but before it was inundated by an ice sheet, the study suggests.

The research teams studied the landscape beneath the Antarctic ice sheet and compared it to the landscapes of the southern continents, to reconstruct how Antarctica’s landscape would have looked before it was covered by ice.

Their study shows that West Antarctica shares a similar landscape, and evolved in a similar way, to other regions including southern Africa, Australia and Madagascar. Characteristics such as river valleys, plains, mountain escarpments and basins are the same.

With an area of 4,000,000kmsq and a permanent human population of just over 1,000, Antarctica was formed following the break-up of an ancient supercontinent, known as Gondwana, which contained about half the world’s land mass.

The process, which shaped the lands of the southern hemisphere, began about 160-180 million years ago. Ice sheet formation on Antarctica began later, some 34 million years ago.

The research, published in Scottish Geographical Journal, was funded by the Natural Environmental Research Council.

Antarctica stores enough frozen water to raise global sea level by 58 metres, and knowing how much ice it is losing is key to understanding the impacts of climate change today and in the future.

Edinburgh University stated: “Knowledge of the pre-glacial landscape helps determine where glaciers first formed. It also helps understand the nature of the ice sheet bed and the location of deep troughs carved into the land by present-day glaciers that affect the stability of the ice sheet, which is useful for forecasts."

Professor David Sugden of the School of Geosciences at Edinburgh said: “It is remarkable to stand on the slopes of a mountain in South Africa and realise that their exact equivalents lie preserved in ice in Antarctica.

“The pre-glacial landscape of Antarctica is less well known than the surface of the Moon and Mars, and yet it plays a part in how the continent’s ice sheet responds to global warming. Learning how it has evolved will help us to better forecast future changes.

Dr Stewart Jamieson of the Department of Geography, Durham University, said: “The improved knowledge of how Antarctica’s landscape evolved could be a vital aid to understanding how the ice sheet might respond to continued climate warming.

“The research is an integral part of an effort by the scientific committee on Antarctic research to try to understand how the Antarctic ice sheet might respond to climates that are warmer than present.”