Russian scientists extract a billion-year-old rock from Antarctica

In a groundbreaking achievement, scientists from St. Petersburg, participating in a joint Russian-Chinese research project, have extracted a rock estimated to be around a billion years old from beneath Antarctica’s ice for the first time. The team extracted a continuous core of Antarctic ice as well. They were studying a magnetic anomaly that has so far defied scientific explanation, and hoping to quite literally get to the bottom of it. According to VNIIOkeangeologia, the drilling operation was conducted 30 kilometers south of the Progress coastal wintering station. In addition to shedding light on one of Antarctica’s mysterious magnetic hotspots, the ice core retrieved alongside the rock sample will provide invaluable insights into the climatic and atmospheric conditions in Antarctica over the past ten thousand years. This research forms part of a collaborative effort between Jilin University, the Chinese University of Geosciences in Beijing, and the Russian Antarctic Expedition of the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute of Roshydromet.