90 million years ago, Antarctica had a temperate forest just 900 kilometers from the South Pole despite months of darkness. 90 million years later, scientists found its roots, pollen and spores preserved in seafloor sediment beneath today's frozen continent

Today, much of Antarctica is covered by ice. But roughly 90 million years ago, a very different landscape existed near the South Pole. Scientists found evidence of a temperate rainforest growing in what is now West Antarctica, despite the region being close to the pole and experiencing months of darkness each year, as per a report.

What makes the discovery especially striking is what survived. Inside a sediment core recovered from the seabed off West Antarctica, researchers found a dense network of fossil roots preserved in ancient soil, along with pollen and spores from the vegetation that once grew there, as per a Science Blog report.