Project information
Project aim
Antarctica and Australia were joined along Australias southern margin until 50 million years ago in the last remnants of the supercontinent Gondwana, and the flora and fauna of the two continents were continuous with only regional differences. The Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) will be conducting a scientific drilling program off the margin of the Australian Antarctic Territory between Australias stations of Davis and Mawson in early 2000 and will recover cores of rock that will preserve what is likely to be the best record of the Antarctic vegetation as Antarctica changed from subtropical to glacial. The work will allow scientists to gain a better understanding of the role of Antarctica in the global system and how much and how quickly the vegetation changed in response to change. It will also generate a much better understanding of the links between the current Australian vegetation and that of Antarctica in the past. This is particularly relevant to southeastern Australia and especially Tasmania. The proposal is submitted at this time before samples have been taken because the required date of submission predates the sample-taking phase.