Discovery

Discovery

Last Updated: Wednesday, 9 April 2008, 12:32 GMT

Snow landscape in Antarctica, geologist hammers a sample from the roots of an ancient volcano on Eklund Island

Geologist Phil Leat hammers a sample from the roots of an ancient volcano on Eklund Island

Discovery in Antarctica

Episode1: Air and Ice

Episode 2: Fire and Ice

Episode3: Water and Ice

Episode4: Life and Ice

Gabrielle Walker continues her voyage South down the Antarctic Peninsula aboard HMS Endurance.

She joins scientists from the British Antarctic Survey as they investigate the deep history of the continent. They travel to remote, ice-covered islands where occasional rocks poke through the snow to tell a 200 million year story of continental break-up that has isolated Antarctica in deep-freeze.

They discover a tiny creature that has shared that isolation for 40 million years, hear how the continent may be splitting once more and go in search of rare minerals spewed up from deep within the Earth’s mantle.

Related links

Diary of the Expedition

British Antarctic Survey

International Polar Year

HMS Endurance

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