Geological History
Further information: Geology of Antarctica and GondwanaAfrica separated from Antarctica around 160 million years ago, followed by the Indian subcontinent, in the early Cretaceous (about 125 million years ago). About 65 million years ago, Antarctica (then connected to Australia) still had a tropical to subtropical climate, complete with marsupial fauna and an extensive temperate rainforest.
The Lake Vostok basin is a small (50 km / 30 mi wide) tectonic feature within the overall setting of a several hundred kilometer wide continental collision zone between the Gamburtsev Mountain Range, a subglacial mountain range and the Dome C region. The lake water is cradled on a bed of sediments 70 meters (230 ft) thick, offering the possibility that they contain a unique record of the climate and life in Antarctica before the ice cap formed.
Read more about this topic: Lake Vostok
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