[NEWS] Four links on Antarctica: ancient Godwanaland forests, mantle plume, American infrastructure

[rfmcdonald]

• Elaina Zachos reports on the discovery of a remarkable intact petrified forest in Antarctica more than a quarter-billion years old, legacy of ancient Godwanaland, over at National Geographic.


• D-Brief reports on the remarkable adaptations of the forests of Godwanaland, now Antarctica, to six months without light.
  
• Universe Today reports that a hitherto unsupected plume from the mantle underneath Antarctica may be partially responsible for the ready melting of that continent's ice sheets.


• Justin Gillis and Jonathan Corum report on how the infrastructure of the American presence in Antarctica, including McMurdo station, is in desperate need for investment to compensate for decades of neglect, over at the New York Times.