Millions of years ago Antarctica was not where it is located today. It started off in the mid-latitudes and started moving about an inch to two inches a year to the bottom of the earth. The continent also had palms and baobab trees and reptiles and marsupials. The mountains, valleys and inlets are still located on the continent.
Antarctica measures 5.4 million square miles and is larger than Australia (2.9 million square miles) and Europe (3.9 million square miles). Its land mass is covered in a layer of ice that is about 7100 feet deep which is 90% of the worlds ice and about 70% of the worlds fresh water. Its sunlight comes to it laterally so it will always be sunk in a deep freeze. Many mammals, birds, and fish make Antarctica their home – like seals, penguins, whales, gulls, krill and albatross.
The ice of the Artic is melting and Antarctica’s ice is starting to melt. If this keeps going due to climate change we will have too much water. The coastlines that we know of now will be gone. Researchers are finding that our use of fossil fuels and industrial enterprises are causing the rise in temperatures in the oceans.