Scientists have discovered a vast area of ​​valleys and mountains that have been “frozen in time” under Antarctica’s ice sheets for millions of years.

In a study published by scientists in the journal Nature Communications, this natural area larger than the size of Belgium has remained unchanged for more than 34 million years, but global warming may one day expose it.

“It’s an undiscovered natural area, nobody’s ever seen it,” glaciologist Stuart Jamieson of Durham University in the United Kingdom, lead author of the study, told AFP. vision.”

The researchers used satellite images to “monitor valleys and mountains” at a depth of more than two kilometers.

A picture appeared of landscapes of valleys and mountains, some of which resembled those present on the surface of the earth. Jamieson said it was like looking out the window of a long-haul plane and seeing a mountain range below.

Spread over 32,000 square kilometers, the area was covered with trees, forests and animals, and was frozen over time by successive ice sheets.

It is difficult to determine when sunlight last touched this hidden world, but researchers believe it was at least 14 million years ago.

Some researchers have previously discovered a lake the size of a city under the ice sheet of Antarctica, and researchers believe there are other ancient natural areas that have yet to be discovered.