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Biology uncovers prehistoric Antarctic seaway

Scientists have found compelling evidence that a water channel flowed through the West Antarctic ice sheet just 125,000 years ago. And the researchers used a tiny seafloor dwelling marine animal, the bryozoan, to prove it. The seaway, a result of melting ice sheets during the last interglacial warming, would have contributed to a rise in global sea level five metres higher than today. The finding sheds new light on the stability of the West Antarctic ice sheet, the third largest ice mass on the planet.

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