Sharjah24 – Reuters: In a new study published in the journal Geology, scientists show in detail the massive size and great number of huge undersea channels created by ice sheets when they melted at the end of the last ice age.
The study shows detailed 3D images of hundreds of channels carved into the bedrock under the North Sea.
The area where these channels occur perfectly match the area that was covered by the ice sheet during the last ice age, which ended only 20,000 years ago.
Scientists say the channels were cut by powerful rivers of meltwater that formed under the huge ice sheet when the Earth started to warm up.
The researchers used boats with sonic equipment that pulse sound waves to the bottom of the North Sea.
These sound waves penetrate the water and sediment, but bounce off the hard bedrock under the sediment.
These returning sound waves are then recorded and interpreted by computers to create highly accurate 3D images of all features under the sea floor.
Scientists say this data helps them to understand how melting ice sheets behave, and this helps them predict how the melting Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets will behave.
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