Timeless Valleys of the Antarctic Desert
Photographs by Maria Stenzel
Article by Michael Parfit
On a continent of ice these places are bare. On a restless planet they are still. More like Mars than Earth, Antarctica’s Dry Valleys draw scientists to study primitive life-forms and to look through the window that this changeless landscape opens into the depths of time.
"No trees," says geologist Bruce Marsh. "No green plants. Just blue-green algae. Where else can you go where it’s just like it was three billion years ago? Incredible!" Barren to behold, there is actually much to draw scientists: microscopic worms at the top of the fold chain, life that survives being freeze-dried, great slabs of rock that would elsewhere be hidden to geologists by plants, evidence of the history of the climate hidden in the ash of ancient volcanoes. But the different scientists share one thing—this stark place, which has changed little in millions of years, gives them a chance not just to check out a curious part of the Earth but also to explore the far reaches of time itself.
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