Scientists discover forest fossil 280 million years old in Antarctica

Eric Gulbranson and John Isbel from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee traveled to the Transantartic Mountains during the summer of the continent in mid-November and January.

They found ancient specimens among rocks where a green forest had existed in the past.

The team had previously found fossil fragments of 13 trees estimated to be over 260 million years old, meaning that the forest would have grown before the first dinosaurs appeared at the end of Permi's period.

Professor Gulbrason said that people have known about the fossils in Antarctica since 1910, but most of the region remains unexplored.

The polar forest grew to an extent where plants cannot grow today and he believes they must have been an extremely warm species in order to survive. The team is now trying to figure out why these forests disappeared.

Trees are believed to have been able to survive by living almost half the year in absolute darkness, followed by up to five months of constant light.

During the Permian period, Antarctica was much warmer than it is today. At the time, Antarctica was still part of Gondwana, the South Hemisphere supercruz that included modern - day Africa, South America, Arabia, India, and Australia.

In a separate interview with CNN, Gulbranson said the dating of the fossils was one of his team's biggest challenges. He added that recent discoveries showed that the polar forest was about 280 million years old or younger.

Gulbranson believes his work could help in understanding the effects of contemporary climate change.