𝙪𝙗𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙪 “As knowledge of ice sheet history emerged from these new studies, it became clear that the Antarctic sheet had been in existence for some 34 million years. That’s much longer than the two to three million years of the northern hemisphere. So when researchers considered how much change had occurred in the landscapes of places like Scotland, it became reasonable to assume that Antarctica’s underlying bed, having been exposed to glacial erosion for ten times as long as the north, had been modified even more. The ice sheet had covered the area, but had been selective about where it deepened a river valley to form a trough, and instead protected some valleys when its base was below the melting point. The landscape of these escarpments reminded us of South Africa, especially the Drakensberg Mountains and Namibia, which we then duly visited. The similarity with the Dry Valleys was remarkable.” - 𝑆𝑢𝑑𝑔𝑒𝑛 2019 _________________________________________