Survey targets 'ghost' mountains (buried under Antarctic ice) {BBC}

[eppur_se_muova]

By Jonathan Amos
Science reporter, BBC News, San Francisco

Scientists look set to undertake a detailed survey of the Gamburtsev mountain range - one of the Earth's most enigmatic mountain groups.

It extends for more than 1,200km and rises to about 3,400m, but is totally buried under more than 600m of ice.

Computer modelling suggests these great peaks were a nucleation point some 30 million years ago for the huge ice sheets now covering the continent.

The study would be a flagship project of the 2007-8 International Polar Year.

"We want to find out what these gigantic mountains are and where they come from; because no-one really knows how they formed," Dr Michael Studinger, a principal investigator on the project, told BBC News.


***
more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6145642.stm

[everythingsxen]

1. Sweet! The Mountains of Madness!

Elder Things will get them and feed them to the Shoggoths!

Seriously though, that is pretty cool.

[Mabus]

4. Always good to see another Lovecraft fan

I used to have a dog named Cthulhu. She rejoined the other ancient ones years ago.

[PVnRT]

5. At last, the Unspeakable Plateau of Leng is found

The eldritch horrors...the cyclopean monstrosities...the gelatinous ooze...

[TechBear_Seattle]

7. Those were good times, compared to the current misadministration n/t

[mainegreen]

6. Yup.

Dumb scientists. I bet they'll think finding a monolithic buried city is a good thing.
At least they'll get eaten before us.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

8. This is an odd coincidence.

Especially compared to that other thread about scientists finding a colony of giant albino penguins.

[MichaelHarris]

2. Ya know

we keep going the way we're going and we'll all get to see those mountains pretty soon. All we need to do is burn more coal and follow the Bush energy policy and we'll get to clear-cut those mountains in a few years.

[Lautremont]

3. They probably won't be hidden for long.