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Much attention has been given to warming conditions and their effects on Arctic permafrost regions and the Antarctic in general - especially in relation to trapped methane deposits that might be liberated if / when warming progresses.
Newly reported research results describe the discovery of a previously unknown similar situation outside the circumpolar regions - an area of deep sediments beneath the Black Sea that have not yet begun responding to the end of the last glacial maximum (Ice Age).
FULL STORY: https://www.sciencealert.com/in-the-deepest-parts-of-the-black-sea-the-last-ice-age-never-ended
NOTE: The by-line for this story shows a date of April 1, but I don't have any reason to suspect it's an April Fools' joke.
Newly reported research results describe the discovery of a previously unknown similar situation outside the circumpolar regions - an area of deep sediments beneath the Black Sea that have not yet begun responding to the end of the last glacial maximum (Ice Age).
We've Found Deep Parts of The Sea Where The Last Ice Age Never Actually Ended
Some of the deepest parts of the Black Sea are still responding to climate changes prompted by the last ice age, scientists have discovered – a period which officially ended almost 12,000 years ago.
An analysis of gas hydrate deposits – in this case methane trapped by water molecules, in a solid substance that looks like ice – has revealed the lagging response in a northwestern area of the Black Sea known as the Danube fan.
Together with temperature measurements and other data, the drill cores of the gas hydrate deposits reveal something rather surprising: Levels of free methane gas under the seafloor have not yet adapted to the warmer conditions that have already prevailed on the surface for thousands of years.
"This shows that the gas hydrate system in the Danube deep sea fan is still responding to climate changes initiated at the end of the last glacial maximum," write the researchers in their paper. ...
FULL STORY: https://www.sciencealert.com/in-the-deepest-parts-of-the-black-sea-the-last-ice-age-never-ended
NOTE: The by-line for this story shows a date of April 1, but I don't have any reason to suspect it's an April Fools' joke.