The 280 million-year-old forest in the South Pole

By Katy Scott, CNN

Updated 1612 GMT (0012 HKT) January 5, 2018

A team of geologists have discovered 280 million-year-old tree fossils from what is believed to be the oldest polar forest found in Antarctica -- dating back to before the first dinosaurs walked the Earth.<br /><br />Pictured: Paleoecologist Erik Gulbranson from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee studies a fossilized tree he brought back from Antarctica.
Photos: Fascinating fossils from the Antarctic
A team of geologists have discovered 280 million-year-old tree fossils from what is believed to be the oldest polar forest found in Antarctica -- dating back to before the first dinosaurs walked the Earth.

Pictured: Paleoecologist Erik Gulbranson from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee studies a fossilized tree he brought back from Antarctica.
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But this is not the first tree fossil found in the Antarctic Peninsula. During his fateful 1911-12 South Pole expedition, British explorer Captain Robert F. Scott collected rocks containing 250 million-year-old fossilized seed ferns.
Photos: Fascinating fossils from the Antarctic
But this is not the first tree fossil found in the Antarctic Peninsula. During his fateful 1911-12 South Pole expedition, British explorer Captain Robert F. Scott collected rocks containing 250 million-year-old fossilized seed ferns.
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Scientists have since uncovered further evidence of plant life on the continent, including this fossilized fern from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) fossil collection.
Photos: Fascinating fossils from the Antarctic
Scientists have since uncovered further evidence of plant life on the continent, including this fossilized fern from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) fossil collection.
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While Antarctica today is an inhospitable, icy desert, these seed fern fossils prove that it once had a climate warm enough to support plant life. <br />Captain Scott's fossil discovery reinforced the emerging theory at the time that Antarctica was once part of Gondwana -- a supercontinent that incorporated present-day Africa, South America, Arabia, India and Australia -- as similar fossils were found in these regions.
Photos: Fascinating fossils from the Antarctic
While Antarctica today is an inhospitable, icy desert, these seed fern fossils prove that it once had a climate warm enough to support plant life.
Captain Scott's fossil discovery reinforced the emerging theory at the time that Antarctica was once part of Gondwana -- a supercontinent that incorporated present-day Africa, South America, Arabia, India and Australia -- as similar fossils were found in these regions.
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Subsequent expeditions to the Antarctic Peninsula have unearthed hundreds of amphibian and reptile fossils. This lobster fossil (Hoploparia stokesi) from the BAS fossil collection was found in the Upper Cretaceous (100.5 - 66 million years ago) when the dinosaurs disappeared from the Earth.