MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Falklands holds mysteries of world climate evolution

A researcher from the University of Ulster is finding out what the climate and landscape was like thousands of years ago from a unique rock formation in the Falkland Islands.

Dr Peter Wilson, from the School of Environmental Sciences, is employing the latest scientific techniques to determine how old the unusual rocks are, how they were formed and what type of climate changes helped create them.

"These boulder streams, as they are known, have been found in other parts of the world but these particular streams in the Falklands are more extensive by far," said Dr Wilson.

"The streams are made up of massive boulders, aligned in a valley or slope that stretch for several kilometres in length and can be several hundred meters wide. Often the streams are partially destroyed by glaciers and frost action, as we have seen in the United States, but in the Falklands they have been preserved like nowhere else on earth."

The perfectly preserved formation of the boulder streams in the Falkland Islands combined with the latest radiation techniques for dating the rocks will help give the researchers some clue as to the age of these boulders and to the cold climates and changing landscapes they have been exposed to over the last 100,000 years.

"Scientists have been writing about these unique boulder streams since Charles Darwin first discovered them in 1845, but no one knows how old they are. Our research indicates that different parts of the formation date back to different stages of history, with the rocks nearer to the bottom of the valley possibly dating as far back as 130,000 years ago," Dr Wilson added.

"It is generally accepted that the boulders were riven from cliffs by intense frost-action processes in a period of severely cold climate and then moved slowly downhill but we are not certain when this happened. By obtaining exposure dates for the boulders we will be in a better position to understand the dramatic landscape and climate changes that have taken place in the Falklands and its neighbouring countries in the recent past."