Ice yields ancient 'plant matter'

Scientists drilling ice cores in Greenland have recovered what appear to be
plant remains from nearly 3km (two miles) below the surface.

Team members said reddish clumps of material, found in the muddy ice in the
cores, contain what appear to be pine needles or blades of grass.

If confirmed, it will be the first organic material to be recovered from a
deep ice core drilling project.

Scientists think the material could be several million years old.

The suspected plant material was recovered between the ice sheet and the
bedrock at a drilling site in central Greenland, by a team belonging to the
North Greenland Ice Core Project (NGrip).

"Several of the pieces look very much like blades of grass or pine
needles,"
said Professor James White, a principal investigator on the NGrip project
from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

They may date to before the ice sheet covered the island during the last Ice
Age. Samples of the material will now be sent off to several laboratories
for analysis.

Read the rest at BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3572878.stm

Posted by
Robert Karl Stonjek
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