Why fossils of the glossopteris a tropical plant were discovered in antarctica?

Answer 1

"Glossopteris (Greek glossa, meaning "tongue", because the leaves were tongue-shaped) is the largest and best-known genus of the extinct order of seed ferns known as Glossopteridales (or in some cases as Arberiales or Dictyopteridiales). Long considered a fern after its discovery in 1824, it was later assigned to the gymnosperms. The genus is placed in the division Pteridospermatophyta. In reality, many of the plant groups included within this division are only distantly related to one another." That was straight out of the Wikipedia article. It explains what glossopteris is (or was), and a fossil of one of these long-gone plants would be what was asked about in the original question. A link is provided to our friends at Wikipedia for further information.

Answer 2

Antarctica was not always a frozen continent. It had running water and ecosystems with many more plants and animals than it has today. This meant that there was a sufficient population dead organisms that could become fossils under the right conditions.

Answer 3

those fossils are millions of years old, which gives us 2 reasons:

first, Antarctica, thanks to continental drift, used to be closer to the equator.

second, the planet used to be much warmer, and therefore moister.

Answer 4

Some 270 million years ago in what was called the Permian age, all of the continents were connected, in a supercontinent called Pangea. Much of the plant life was similar throughout. When plate tectonics began shifting the land, the plants moved in respect to their newly formed continents.

Answer 5

The reason why Glossopteris, a tropical plant was discovered in Antartica is, because the continents were connected together as one continent, also known as "Pangea." Antartica was probably a hot place when the continents were connected.

Answer 6

The Antarctic plate must have once been closer to the equator.

Answer 7

Glossopteris fern (which is now extinct)

Answer 8

igneous