Topography Located at the South Pole, Antarctica covers 5.5 million square miles (14.

2 square kilometers) and with over 95% of its surface area covered by ice it generates the coldest climate on Earth. Based on its topography, the continent is divided into two parts: East Antarctica (south of Australia) and West Antarctica (south of South America). The dividing line runs approximately along the 0-180 degree meridian, from the east side of the Ronne-Filchner Ice Shelf to the west side of the Ross Ice Shelf. East Antarctica is dominated by a large dome made of ice and snow. The dome rises to over 14,000 feet (4,267 meters). A ridge extends from the center of the dome in East Antarctica across the South Pole and into West Antarctica. The ridge diverts ice flows to either side of it with part of the ice going onto the Ross Ice Shelf the rest going onto Ronne-Filchner ice shelf. The weight of all of this ice and snow has submerged part of the actual Antarctic landmass below the oceans. If the all of the ice were removed, the land would rise approximately 2,000 feet (6,562 meters) until most of East Antarctica was above sea level. Most of West Antarctica, however, would still remain submerged forming a shallow sea.

Colored Shaded Relief Map of Subglacial Topography and Bathymetry of Antarctica

Colored Shaded Relief Map of Subglacial Topography and Bathymetry of Antarctica The above map shows the subglacial topography and bathymetry of Antarctica. As indicated by the scale on left-hand side, the different shades of blue and purple indicate parts of the ocean floor and sub-ice bedrock, which are below sea level. The other colors indicate Antarctic bedrock lying above sea level. Each color represents an interval of 2,500 feet in elevation. Relief There are two faces of the present-day continent of Antarctica. One, seen visually, consists of the exposed rock and ice-surface terrain. The other, seen only indirectly by seismic or other remote-sensing techniques, consists of the

ice-buried bedrock surface. Both evolved through long and slow geologic processes. Effects of glacial erosion and deposition dominate everywhere in Antarctica, and erosional effects of running water are relatively minor. Yet, on warm summer days, rare and short-lived streams of glacial meltwater do locally exist. The evanescent Onyx River, for example, flows from Lower Wright Glacier terminus to empty into the nondrained basin of Lake ... (100 of 20538 words)

Antarctica has six months of daylight and six months of darkness. The earth revolves around the sun and tilts on it's axis. During the winter, Antarctica is tilted away from the sun, causing it to be dark. For the half of the year that is summer, Antarctica is facing the sun and getting more of its direct rays. The lowest temperature ever recorded in Antarctica was -129F. The warmest temperature ever recorded in Antarctica was 59F. The average summer temperature is 20F. The average winter temperature is -30F. The highest wind speed ever in Antarctica was when the wind was moving at five meters per second. The wind is an important factor in making Antarctica cold. The wind can lower the temperatures of Antarctica by at least ten degrees. The Antarctic is colder than the North Pole because it warms up faster and it cools down faster. Antarctica gets warmer faster than the Arctic because the Ocean water carries heat from the equator to the poles. The land of Antarctica heats up faster than the waters of the Arctic. The climate of Antarctica is by far the coldest on the whole of Earth. Antartica boasts the lowest temperature ever recorded: 89.2 C (128.6 F) at Vostok Station.[1] It is also extremely dry (technically a desert), with annual percipitation averaging 166 mm (6.5 in) of precipitation per year. Even so, on most parts of the continent the snow rarely melts and is eventually compressed to become the glacial ice that makes up the ice sheet. Weather fronts rarely penetrate far into the continent. Most of Antarctica has an ice cap climate (Kppen EF) with very cold, generally extremely dry weather throughout the year and no month averaging above 0 C (32 F). Some fringe coastal areas have a polar climate (Kppen ET) with a short summer averaging above freezing, and much higher precipitation. The lowest naturally occurring temperature on Earth was 89.2C (128.6F); recorded on Thursday, July 21, 1983 at Vostok Station. For comparison, this is 11 C colder than subliming dry ice. The highest temperature ever recorded in Antarctica was 14.6C (58.3F) in two places, Hope Bay and Vanda Station, on January 5, 1974.

The mean annual temperature of the interior is 57C (70F). The coast is warmer. Monthly means at McMurdo Station range from 28C (18.4F) in August to 3C (26.6F) in January. At the South Pole, the highest temperature recorded was 14C (7F). Along the Antarctic Peninsula, temperatures as high as 15C (59F) have been recorded, though the summer temperature is usually around 2C (36F). Severe low temperatures vary with latitude, elevation, and distance from the ocean. East Antarctica is colder than West Antarctica because of its higher elevation. The Antarctic Peninsula has the most moderate climate. Higher temperatures occur in January along the coast and average slightly below freezing. The total precipitation in Antarctica, averaged over the entire continent, is about 166 mm (6.5 in) per year (Vaughan et al., J Climate, 1999). The actual rates vary widely, from high values over the Peninsula (meters/yards per year) to very low values (as little as 50 mm (2 in) per year) in the high interior. Areas that receive less than 250 mm (10 in) of precipitation per year are classified as deserts. Almost all Antarctic precipitation falls as snow. Note that the quoted precipitation is a measure of its equivalence to water, rather than being the actual depth of snow. The air in Antarctica is also very dry. The low temperatures result in a very low absolute humidity, which means that dry skin and cracked lips are a continual problem for scientists and expeditioners working in the field.

Plants The extreme conditions make Antarctica a habitat in which only the hardiest can survive. Very few species have been recorded on the 2% of the continent that is ice-free. They include about 150 lichens, 30 mosses, some fungi and one liverwort. Higher Plants Only two native vascular plants, the Antarctic hair grass Deschampsia antarctica and a cushion-forming pearlwort, Colobanthus quitensis, survive south of 56S. They occur in small clumps near the shore of the west coast of Antarctic Peninsula. This is in marked contrast to the Arctic regions where nearly 100 flowering plants are found at 84N. Both plants can tolerate very cold and dry conditions. They continue to function at freezing point, when the rate at which they convert sunlight into chemical energy drops to about 30 to 40 per cent of that reached during the most favourable conditions. Lichens

Lichen Of all the plants, lichens are best adapted to survive in the harsh polar climate. Some lichens have even been found only about 400 km from the South Pole. Lichens have proliferated in Antarctica mainly because there is little competition from mosses or flowering plants and because of their high tolerance of drought and cold. The peculiarity of lichens is that they are not one homogeneous organism but a symbiosis of two different partners, a fungus and an alga. The fungus part supplies the plant with water and nutritious salt, meanwhile the alga part organic substance, like carbohydrate produce. With this ideal "job-sharing", lichens can survive the hardest conditions. Far from the border of highly developed plants, lichens are the pioneers of the vegetation. Lichens arent only frugal and robust, they jug out because of their very low sensibility against frost. Some lichens, in an experiment, survived a bath in liquid nitrogen at minus 195 degrees. On icy rock, lichens have the same strategy as plants have developed in the sand of the Sahara: they form an "oasis". Like in the desert they miss water. They have only a chance to survive, if they settle in an area with a convenient, damp microclimate. Since what stops lichens to spread over the whole of Antarctica is not so much the big cold as the lack of water. For this reason they dont settle in a place with the most sunshine, but in recesses and cracks between rocks. They like scanty soils, created by weathered rocks. They often quicken this process with secretion of acid. Snowflake are captured in the cracked rock and smelt on the dark lichens, they can absorb the vitally liquid. Especially unfavourable conditions are in the "dry valley" of East Antarctica, where big coldness and low snowfall meet. But even there scientists have found a dark cover on the north side of some rocks, which prove to be lichens. Under the microscope it was shown that the lichens penetrate the upper coat of the rock. With the dark colour the lichens absorb more light. This strategy enables the lichens to scrape a humble living in those quite high southern latitude. An often seen lichen is Usnea sphacelata, which looks like a small forest of bonsai. They even grow on a height of some centimetres. They can only grow on about 120 day per year, so they only grow between 0.01 and 1 millimetre per year. But they live very long: an age of 200 years is not unusual, the record is about 4500 years. Mosses Only a small number of moss species are found in Antarctica. Extensive

fields occur in a few places on this continent and these are rarely more than 100 mm deep, even in the most favourable areas where there is shelter and plenty of water. Short moss turf and cushion moss is found most frequently in sandy and gravelly soils. No extensive peat formations are to be found. Mosses, like lichens, gather in colonies which make them possible to collect and retain more water. They also lose less by evaporation and show a marked ability to use water rapidly whenever it becomes available. Mosses have also become well adapted to the almost continuous light during the long days of a polar summer. One Antarctic moss, Bryum argenteum, produces more energy by photosynthesis in low light at 5C than it does at 15C, or higher. Photosynthesis can start within a few hours of thawing after a prolonged period of freezing, and almost immediately following short periods. Algae More than 300 species of non-marine algae have been found in Antarctica. These very simple plants take many diverse forms and a few have become adapted to living in difficult polar environments. Blue-green and other algae are found growing in damp sand and gravel around lakes and tarns, along meltwater streams or in low-lying areas, where snowdrifts or seepage may collect. Some such as Prasiola crispa can tolerate high levels of nutrients and are found near bird colonies. Others the snow algae - may form extensive and spectacular red, yellow or green patches in areas of permanent snow. Recent studies have shown that some blue-green algae live inside rocks in dry valleys. Commonly they are found under stones, particularly light-coloured quartz stones, where the microclimate is more favourable than in the surrounding sand or soil. Together with lichens, they are the only living things in a barren landscape. Fungi Fungi have been studied little. Several mushrooms have been found on the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula, and on the South Shetland Islands. A few of the fungi found in Antarctica are unique to the continent. The majority, however, are also found in most temperate areas

Animals The terrestrial fauna of Antarctica consists entirely of invertebrates, mostly microscopic, which live in the soil and in vegetation. They rage from protozoa (single-celled creatures), rotifers, tardigrades and nematodes to arthropods (mainly mites and springtails). The largest invertebrate is the wingless midge (Belgica antarctica), which grows to 12 mm long. Insects

Compared to other regions, insects are scarce and small in Antarctica. only 67 species have been recorded, and most are less than 2 mm long. Most of them are parasites, like lice which live in the feathers and fur of birds and seals, where they are protected from the harsh climate for much of the time. Collemola (springtails) are the only free-living insects. They feed on algae and fungi, and remain dormant in winter. Mites Mites, which belong to the spider family, are the commonest land animals. One of them, which is only 0.3 mm long, is the worlds most southerly indigenous animal. It has been found as far south as 85. Many of the mites avoid freezing by a physical process known as "supercooling", whereby their body fluids are maintained in a liquid state in temperatures below their normal freezing point. Species such as the oribatoud mite (Alaskozetes antarcitcus) and the springtail (cryptopygus antarcticus) have a constant struggle to maintain this unstable condition. The presence of food material in the gut provides some particles around which ice will form, so, in order to survive, they must strike a balance between freezing and starving. Their ability to synthesize glycerol, an antifreeze, enables them to survive temperatures of 35C. Birds Birds breed or live in Antarctica and nearby islands. The most famous bird is of course the penguin. Seabirds Cormorants While each spring. Around 35 species visit the subantarctic Islands. They range from the magnificent wandering albatross, which flies thousands of kilometres to feed, to gulls, cormorants and terns, which hunt closer inshore. Most return to the same sites each year. Some, like the albatross, mate for life. In addition five species of land birds live all year round on South Georgia, Kerguelen and Marion Islands. Penguins There are 18 species of penguins in the southern water, seven of them live around Antarctica. This flightless birds are found from the equator to the coast of Antarctica. They are well adapted for cold with their dense overall plumage. Best adapted are the emperor penguin, the largest ones Emperor penguin Emperor penguin Aptenodytes forsteri is 1m tall and weight 30kg.

They breed on the Antarctic continent, but there are also two colonies found breeding on winter fast-ice, which is stable from late autumn onwards but begins to break up in the spring. They are perhaps the only species of bird that never sets foot on land. They laid single, 13cm long eggs which weight 0.4kg on ice and held them on feet. The male takes charge of the precious egg within a few hours, balancing it carefully on his feet and covering it with a special fold of abdominal skin. The female return to the sea for a month to feed. For 65 day, in temperatures down to -45C and blizzards up to 200km/h, the males incubate the egg. They keep as still as possible and huddles close to his fellows to conserve body heat. During this time they eat nothing, and only has snow to drink. As a result, male penguins lose 40% of their body weight. Some cannot endure the fast and abandon their eggs and head for the sea to feed. For those that stick it out, relief comes with the return of the females in mid-July, just as the chick is hatching. With amazing accuracy, partners recognise each others calls amongst the thousands of others, and the chick is transferred to the mothers feet and pouch. While she feeds it regurgitated fish on demand, the male is free to find his first meal in four months. But this is still a two-day journey across 80km of pack ice to the open sea. When he gets there, he may dive to over 300 m to find food. After three weeks the males return to relieve the females. By the next changeover the chicks are big enough to be left in creches so that both parents can bring food to them. By mid-December, they have reached 60% of their adult body weight, shed their fluffy down for a smart dinner suit and are ready to try their luck in a new environment, the sea. Although 30% or more dont make it to this stage, those that do have a good chance of living at least 20-30 years. Emperors are so big they need nine months to complete their breeding cycle. They can just fit this into the period of the annual freezing and break-up of the pack ice. But to do so, the males must endure a harsh winter fast, and the chicks have to risk hatching very early in spring. Adlie penguin Adlie penguin Pygoscelis adeliae has an average weight of 5kg and a height of 70cm. Adlies live and breed all around Antarctica, on the shores of the continent and on many islands. During winter they live on the pack-ice, where the air temperature is higher than on land and in summer they breed, often 80km or more away from the winter place. The males arrive a few days before the females, to occupy the nest space. After courtship, they build their pebble nests and the two eggs are laid a

few days apart. The females then return to the ocean to feed a diet of krill and larval fish. The male incubates the egg for seven to 10 days, after which the female returns for a similar shift. The partners then alternate duties for the rest of the 33-day incubation period. The parent warm the chicks for two or three weeks before forming crches. Then the young birds leave the colony to spend their first two years at sea or on the pack-ice. Gentoo penguin Gentoo penguin Gentoo penguin includes two different subspecies, the Pygoscelis papua ellsworthii in the north and the Pygoscelis papua papua in the south. The southern have an average weight of 5.5kg and a height of 71cm, they are smaller, lighter and have smaller feet, flippers and bills than the northern gentoos. The northern are 81cm tall and weight 6.2 kg. They are spread over the whole Antarctic and sub-Antarctic islands. In the south they nest on bare, open ground, sometimes sharing colonies with chinstraps and Adlies. On the northern islands they nest in the shelter of tussock grass. They lay two almost spherical eggs the size of tennis balls, which have rough, bluish-white shells. These are incubated by the male and female in turn for 35 days. Gentoos are probably the fastest swimmer of all birds. Theyre capable of bursts of speed of up to 21 to 27 km/h. They feed mainly on krill and other fish, and can dive to depths of 100m or more. Chinstrap penguin Chinstrap penguin pygoscelis antarctica, with an average weight of 4.5kg and a height of 68cm, is the smallest of the three Pygoscelis species. With their population of 10 million the occur mostly on South Orkney, South Shetland and South Sandwich Islands and along the western shores of the Antarctic Peninsula. Chinstraps nest on rock, sloping ground. Females take the first incubation watch over two eggs and parental duties are shared once the chicks hatch. The young birds leave the colonies within nine weeks, and are able to feed themselves of krill. King penguin King penguin Aptenodytes patagonica grow up to 95 cm and have a weight of 15kg. They breed in huge colonies on islands around

Antarctica. Their colonies are occupied the whole year round either by chicks or adults. Their world population is estimated at two million. They have a similar breeding behaviour like the emperor, they lay only one egg at a time, which they carry around on their feet for the 15 day of incubation. They cover the egg with a fold of skin called brood patch to transfer the heat from the adult body to the egg. The chicks are dependent for almost a year and are feeded on a diet of fish and squid. The parents dive hundred times but often very unsuccessful. Scientists have estimated that of 500 to 1200 dives made by king penguins, about half are greater than 50m. The deepest recorded dive for this species of penguin is 250m, only the emperor penguin can dive deeper. The King penguin have a very special breeding cycle which raise two chicks in three years. In the first year, breeding starts in October. The eggs are laid in November and hatch from mid-January. Both parents share incubation. By mid-April the chicks have reached 90% of adult body weight but are not year fledged. They huddle together through the winter with only infrequent feeds from their parents. Next spring, with plenty of food available again, they grow quickly, moult and leave the colony. Their parents spend this second summer at sea then return to breed, laying eggs which hatch in March. These new chicks are also abandoned in winter, with much less chance of survival than their following third summer feeding them so they are ready to leave the colony by autumn. Then for the parents the cycle begins again the following October. Rockhopper penguin Eudyptes chrysocome is with 55cm height and a weight of 2.5 kg the smallest penguin around Antarctica. They breed in nest on the cliffs and scree slopes of islands close to and north of the Antarctic Convergence. They lay two eggs of different sizes. Some pairs incubate in 35 day both eggs but usually only one survives. Chicks leave the colonies when they are around 70 days old. They are the most aggressive of all penguins and often found in company of macaronis. Macaroni penguin Eudyptes chrysolophus is 71cm tall and weigh 4kg. They spend the winter at sea and return to their colonies on the inner and outer Antarctic islands to engage in lively courtship. Macaronis lay two eggs in their sparse nest. The first egg, which is 50 per cent smaller than the second, usually survives rarer. After 35 days of incubation, the surviving chick is guarded by the male for the first three weeks while the female periodically returns with krill.

Most of the Antarctic coastline is hidden beneath the ice flowing off the continent. Beneath the seemingly lifeless expanses of pack-ice and sea-ice lies a much more rich and varied world of animals than on land. The factor which has the greatest effect on life in the Southern Ocean is not temperature but light. Without light plants cannot grow, and without plants there is no food for the animals at the bottom of the Antarctic food chain.

Phytoplankton The food chain is based on phytoplankton, a varied group of tiny free floating plants. In spring and early summer their numbers increase rapidly, producing "blooms" like a think pea soup which can cover thousand of square kilometres of the ocean. These blooms provide a food source which is 300-400 times more concentrated than normal for a variety of zooplankton (tiny animals, especially copepods and krill, which in turn provide food for fish, seals, whales and penguins. Not surprisingly, zooplankton grow rapidly, increasing their body weight by around 5% a day over the short summer. Krill Krill Krill, a Norwegian whaling term meaning "small fry", refers to many species of planktonic crustacea. It is the most commercially important and so its biology is the best known. Surprisingly, it is poorly adapted to its environment. It is heavier than water and has to work hard just to keep afloat. For this, it has five pairs of legs for swimming, and also several more that form a net to filter its food. Krill are omnivores; they filter with the fine hairs on their thoractic appendages a wide variety of microorganisms and other crustacea from the water. They are also cannibalistic. Krill spawn in summer, and mature females can do so twice a season. They lay 2000-3000 eggs each time and the eggs sink into deep water where they are carried southward on the currents to the edges of the continent. There they hatch into larvae, which go through several stages as they gradually rise, emerging on the surface as adults in two or three years. Krill live a long time for plankton, up to seven years. In winter, they feed on algae on the underside of the pack ice. They shrink on this sparse diet, but make up for it the following summer when the phytoplankton blooms once more. Fish

Ice Fish There live only 120 species of fish in the waters south of the Antarctic Convergence. 90 per cent of the total number of individual fish belong to the well studied group, the Notothenioidea. This sub-order is divided into four families: Antarctic cod, plunder fish, Dragonfish and ice fish. There polar fish have become well adapted to cold, their body fluids remain still liquid at temperatures below the freezing point. Their body contain different anti-freeze molecules which impede crystal growth and prevent ice form spreading through the body fluids. Exactly how this works is not yet fully understood. The most unusual fish in Antarctic water are the ice fish. They are the only vertebrates whose bodies entirely lack haemoglobin, the red oxygencarrying pigment in the blood. As they have no haemoglobin, they have only 10% of the normal oxygen-carrying capacity, so they have to compensate with other special adaptations suited to low temperatures. They need less energy to circulate the blood because the viscosity of the blood is lower without haemoglobin. The circulation is even quicken by a larger heart which bears faster. All this makes the transfer of oxygen from blood to tissues more efficient. They also use less energy to maintain their metabolism when resting than red-blooded fish. Seals Elephant and leopard seal Seals are well adapted to cold Antarctic waters. Some have layer of dense fur and others a layer of blubber beneath the skin, which is equally effective in the air or under water. Seals are divided into two main types: The true of "earless" seals, which evolved from otter-like ancestors. The otariids is the other type, which includes fur seals and sealions. They have visible earflaps, and use all their limbs for locomotion on land , which they do very well Whales are the largest animals in world, specially blue whale with his length up to 30m and a weight up to 180 tonnes. But there are many species of baleen whales found in Antarctic waters like the fin, humpback, sei, minke, and the right whale. There are also six species of toothed whales: Sperm, Killer, bottlenose, fourtooth whale and Dolphins.

Blue whale Balaenoptera musculus is not only the largest of all whale species, it is also probably the largest animal that has ever lived on Earth. It has on average a weight of 84 tonnes, but there was also a weight of 180 tonnes recorded. Blue Whales are about 24 m long. They occur in all sea around the world but in summer they travel down to the edge of the ice and remain there for most of the southern summer. The northern migration takes place in open ocean and their breeding rounds are still unknown. Blue whales are endangered, shy and rarely seen as they were driven to near extinction by whaling. They were prime targets for whalers by the 1950s has been reduced to an estimated number of 1'000, of the pre-whaling population of 200'000. It may taken a century before there are sufficient numbers to ensure that the species survives.

Natural resources: iron ore, chromium, copper, gold, nickel, platinum and other minerals, and coal and hydrocarbons have been found in small uncommercial quantities; none presently exploited; krill, finfish, and crab have been taken by commercial fisheries

BACKGROUND INFORMATION Antarctica is the southern-most continent on the Earth and the continent that we know the least about geologically. Two factors make it difficult to study the geology and mineral resources of Antarctica. One, the cold temperatures and strong winds, along with the 24 hour period of darkness during the Antarctic winter, make it a very difficult place to work and collect geological data. Two, less than 3% of Antarctica is ice-free, which makes the study of geology of Antarctica very difficult. GEOLOGY AND PLATE TECTONICS What we know about the geology of Antarctica comes from studying the small percentage of the rocks that are exposed either at the coast or the tops of mountain ranges which extend above the ice. Our understanding of the geology of the Antarctic region is based on the theory of plate tectonics. Plate tectonics is the theory that the earth's crust is made up of a series of pieces. Each piece is called a plate. These plates float on top of the semi-fluid mantle like rafts. The mantle is believed to have convection cells within it

which move these plates around. Because of the theory of plate tectonics, most geologists believe that up until about 180 million years ago, South America, Africa, India, Australia, and New Zealand were all joined together in one very large mass called Gondwana. One piece of evidence that supports the idea of this large land mass is that all of these continents fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. It has also been found that when these continents are placed together they share matching fossils, rock types, and land features. The best explanation for this similarity is that the rocks, fossils and land features formed when the continents were joined together. When Gondwana started to break up, the land masses gradually moved into the positions that we see them today. This idea that all the land masses were formed together allows us to make some assumptions about the geology of Antarctica even though very little of the crust of Antarctica is exposed. ANTARCTICA MINERAL KNOWLEDGE AND ECONOMICS Much of what we know about the geology of Antarctica and about the minerals present is based on what we know about the geology of South America, South Africa, and Australia. For example, if minerals found in the rocks that were formed before the break up of Gondwana are found in the mountains of South America, then we assume that we will find the same minerals in the mountains of Antarctica. This is because we can assume that they were formed at the same time and with the same basic processes. Many people believe that Antarctica is a place of unlimited resource wealth. But the harsh climate, short work season, and thick ice make the recovery of these resources very difficult. The economic value of a resource is determined by the current market value of the resource, the cost of moving the resource to where it is needed, and the cost of moving equipment and workers to recover the resource. The technology to remove and transport mineral resources has not yet been developed but as supplies worldwide are depleted, it will become more cost effective. There are two opposing views about the feasibility of resource recovery in Antarctica. One side is that by the time it is feasible to use an Antarctica resource, alternative sources will exist. Instead of using petroleum for energy there will be development of fusion reactors, solar, or geothermal energy. The other view is that increasing economic pressure will force mineral and petroleum exploration into more and more remote regions as resources are gradually depleted in other lands. ANTARCTICA RESOURCES ICE: One of Antarctica's most important resources is ice. It is said that Antarctica's ice accounts for 90% of the worlds fresh water. As a resource it has potential as a fresh water supply. Some people have considered

towing icebergs from Antarctica to parts of the world in need of fresh water. At present the delivery costs make these ventures unprofitable. Another possible use of the ice on Antarctica is as a long term deep freeze storage site for grain and other foods. Again the costs of shipping and handling are prohibitive. COAL: There are coal deposits found along the coast of Antarctica. It is also very wide spread throughout the Transantarctic Mountains. These deposits were formed between 35 million and 55 million years ago when Antarctica was covered by ancient swamps. Coal forms in swamps as plants die and are buried before they can be completely decomposed. They are then covered by other sediments such as sand and mud. This burial allows the hydrocarbons in the coal to be preserved for future generations to use. Coal is used as a source of direct heat and also to generate electricity in coal burning power plants. The main problem of developing coal in Antarctica is that the cost of mining and delivering the coal is so much higher than the cost of coal in the rest of the world market. It may be possible for coal to be used in some small research stations for a source of heat. PETROLEUM: Petroleum deposits are formed when plants and small animal remains are buried in a marine environment by sand and mud. These remains then build up as hydrocarbons and are trapped by a layer of rock that the hydrocarbons cannot pass through. These cap rocks then store the petroleum underground until it is pumped out by wells. At this time there has been no petroleum exploration attempted and there are no known petroleum resources in Antarctica. Most of the speculation about petroleum in Antarctica comes from finding petroleum on the other Southern continents which were at one time connected together. The petroleum deposits thought to be on the offshore regions of Antarctica would probably be most feasible to obtain although they would have to be exceptionally large to be considered for exploitation because of the following enormous exploration and development problems: -Deeper water over the continental shelves; -The presence of sea ice and icebergs; -Short work season and hostile climate. Comparisons with other Gondwana continents suggest the existence of petroleum reserves in the interior of Antarctica. But these lie below the thick ice, ruling out development. This is due not only to the thickness of the ice but also the fact that it is sliding slowly towards the coast. This makes drilling through the ice and into the rock very difficult.

METALLIC MINERALS: Mineral resources have not been found in great quantities so far due to the small amount of rock that is exposed. It is believed that since the other continents that were once attached to Antarctica to form Gondwana have metallic and nonmetallic minerals, that Antarctica probably has similar minerals. It is also known that rock layers such as those in Antarctica commonly contain large amounts of cobalt, chromium, nickel, vanadium, copper, iron and platinum group minerals. The search for sizable concentrations of metallic minerals below the ice will be a difficult prospecting venture which will require costly geophysical and geochemical surveying and core drilling. Geologists have found small deposits of minerals in Antarctica but these deposits are low in quality and occur in widely scattered places. The peninsula seems to have the highest probability of containing economic base-metal deposits. Most of the minerals were formed or deposited during the formation of Antarctica and the other continents that made up Gondwana.

Antarctica's serenely primitive wilderness faces an uncertain future as debate continues over the question of tapping into the continent's wealth of mineral resources. Beginning in the early 1950s, scientists began to notice the value inherent in such an unusual and largely undiscovered continent and began establishing research stations there. By 1958, the International Geophysical Year (IGY) saw twelve countries establish over 60 bases, both on and around the Antarctic continent, with some countries claiming parts of Antarctica as sovereign territory. The countries initially involved in the scientific body known as the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) included the United States, Chile, Argentina, Norway, France, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Belgium, Russia and Japan. SCAR now includes Germany and Poland as members of the organization which aims to coordinate a number of scientific and working group programs and to further facilitate the sharing and planning of scientific information relating to Antarctic research, such as Climate Change. The successful establishment of SCAR and the IGY in Antarctica was due in large part to cooperation between the countries involved, and led directly to the signing of the Antarctic Treaty in 1959, which has administered Antarctic affairs since 1961 when it officially entered into force. The Antarctic Treaty, signed during mounting Cold War tensions, successfully banned all military activity, nuclear testing, and the dumping of radioactive materials on the continent. The 1991 Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty, also known as the Madrid Protocol, entered into force in 1998 and serves as an additional mechanism for ensuring the protection of the Antarctic environment. The Madrid Protocol goes further than the original treaty as it designates Antarctica as a natural reserve devoted to peace and science and places a moratorium on mining and drilling for oil for a minimum of 50 years. The Protocol sets forth basic principles and detailed, mandatory rules which apply to all human activities in Antarctica.

The call for an environmental protocol to the Antarctic Treaty came after scientists discovered large deposits of natural resources such as coal, natural gas and offshore oil reserves in the early 1980s. Antarctica is considered to be part of the theoretical super-continent known as Gondwanaland, which separated near the end of the Paleozoic era and consisted of South America, Africa and Australia. And, because it once was completely covered in vegetation, many scientists believe it may hold one of the last supergiant oil fields yet to be discovered. The continental shelf of Antarctica is considered to hold the region's greatest potential for oil exploration projects, and although estimates vary as to the abundance of oil in Antarctica, the Weddell and Ross Sea areas alone are expected to possess 50 billion barrels of oil - an amount roughly equivalent to that of Alaska's estimated reserves. However, Antarctica's extreme conditions make oil field accessibility in many areas economically problematic. Future of Antarctica ] Despite the 1991 Madrid Protocol's 50-year moratorium placed on the exploitation of Antarctica's natural resources, future economic and population pressures could pose significant environmental threats to the continent of Antarctica. An expected and dramatic increase in world demand for energy over the next 30 years may expose the continent to countries and markets looking for alternative petroleum supplies. If Antarctica is indeed eventually opened for oil exploration activities, which many believe it will be, the potential for oil pollution occurrences such as oil tanker spills, the dumping of waste oil, natural oil seeps and well blowouts will rise substantially. However, the Antarctic Treaty system currently in place offers the internationally-owned continent an opportunity to temporarily avoid such premature exploration activities. The continent's usefulness as a scientific tool and international research station will continue to be taken advantage of and Antarctica will continue its important role in providing answers to the dilemma of climate change.

The Indian Antarctic Program is a multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional program under the control of the National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India. It was initiated in 1981 with the first Indian expedition to Antarctica.[1] The program gained global acceptance with India's signing of the Antarctic Treaty and subsequent construction of the Dakshin Gangotri Antarctic research base in 1983,[1] superseded by the Maitri base from 1990. Under the program, atmospheric, biological, earth, chemical, and medical sciences are studied by India, which has carried out 27 scientific expeditions to the Antarctic as of April 2008 and is currently planning to build an additional research station in the region, the Bharathi (or Bharti) base.[2] The National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Researcha research and development body functioning under the Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of Indiacontrols the Indian Antarctic program.[6] The NCAOR and the Department of Ocean Development select the members for India's Antarctic expeditions.[3] After medical tests and subsequent acclimatization training at the Himalayas, these selected members are also trained in survival, environment ethics, firefighting and operating in a group.[3] One expedition costs up to Rs. 20 crore (US$ 4.3 million).[3] Logistical support to the various activities of the Indian Antarctic program is provided by the relevant branches of the Indian armed forces.[6] The launching point of Indian expeditions has varied from Goa in India to Cape Town in South Africa on 19th expedition during the time of NCAOR Founding Director Dr. P C Pandey in December 1999.[3] Over 70 institutes in India contributed to its Antarctic program as of 2007.[3] Research Stations Dakshin Gangotri In 1981 the Indian flag unfurled for the first time in Antarctica, marking the start of Southern Ocean expeditions under the environmental protocol of the Antarctic Treaty (1959). The first permanent settlement was built in 1983 and named Dakshin Gangotri. In 1989 it was abandoned after it became buried in ice. Maitri The second permanent settlement, Maitri, was put up in 198889 on the Schirmacher Oasis and has been conducting experiments in geology, geography and medicine. India built a freshwater lake around Maitri known as Lake Priyadharshini. Maitri accomplished the mission of geomorphologic mapping of Schirmacher Oasis. Bharathi (2012)

India has demarcated an area beside Larsmann Hill at 69S, 76E for its third settlement and second active research station. The survey has already been completed and the station is scheduled to be operational by 2012. When it is complete, India will enter the elite group of nine nations having multiple stations within the Antarctic Circle. Bharathi is proposed for oceanographic research and will collect evidence of continental breakup to reveal the 120million-year-old ancient history of the Indian subcontinent. In news sources this station is variously spelled "Bharathi",[12] "Bharti"[2] and "Bharati".[13]

Station Time 4:36 PM

Location: 6617' S 11031' E Casey is located in the Windmill Islands - just outside the Antarctic Circle - and is the third Australian station to occupy a site on Vincennes Bay.

Station Time 10:37 AM Location: 6736' S 6252' E Mawson is situated on an isolated outcrop of rock on the coast in Mac.Robertson Land, at the edge of the Antarctic plateau. It is Australia's first continental station and the longest continuously operating station south of the Antarctic Circle.

Station Time 10:38 AM

Location: 6835' S 7758' E Davis is the most southerly Australian Antarctic station and is situated 2,250 nautical miles south-south-west of Perth, on the Ingrid Christensen Coast of Princess Elizabeth Land.

Macquarie Island is a subantarctic island located in the Southern Ocean, approximately half way between Australia and Antarctica. Macquarie Island, or "Macca" as it is generally referred to, is a Tasmanian State Reserve managed by the Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service. Australia operates a research station at the northern end of the island from which a wide range of research is carried out. Main article: Antarctic Treaty System

Territorial claims of Antarctica according to the Antarctic Treaty: New Zealand Australia France Norway United Kingdom Chile Argentina The Antarctic Treaty and related agreements regulate international relations with respect to Antarctica, Earth's only continent without a native human population. The treaty has now been signed by 46 countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States, and the now-defunct Soviet Union. The treaty set aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve, established freedom of scientific investigation and banned military activity on that continent. This was the first arms control agreement established during the Cold War. The Soviet Union and the United States both filed reservations against the restriction on new claims, and the United States and Russia assert their right to make claims in the future if they so choose. Brazil maintains the Comandante Ferraz (the Brazilian Antarctic Base) and has proposed a theory to delimiting territories using meridians, which would give territories to Argentina, Uruguay, Peru and Ecuador too. In general, territorial claims below the 60 S parallel have only been recognised among those countries making claims in the area. However, claims are often indicated on maps of Antarctica - this does not signify de jure recognition. All claim areas except Peter I Island are sectors, the borders of which are defined by degrees of longitude. In terms of latitude, the northern border of all sectors is the 60 S parallel which does not cut through any piece of land, continent or island, and is also the northern limit of the Antarctic Treaty. The southern border of all sectors collapses in one point, the South Pole. Only the Norwegian sector is an exception: the original claim of 1930 did not specify a

northern or a southern limit, so that its territory is only defined by eastern and western limits.[4] The Antarctic Treaty states that contracting to the treaty:

is not a renunciation of any previous territorial claim. does not affect the basis of claims made as a result of activities of the signatory nation within Antarctica. does not affect the rights of a State under customary international law to recognise (or refuse to recognise) any other territorial claim.

What the treaty does affect are new claims:

No activities occurring after 1961 can be the basis of a territorial claim. No new claim can be made. No claim can be enlarged.