A new study has confirmed that the heat and steam from active volcanoes helped sustain life during past ice ages, according to a report by Live Science.
Researchers analyzed the concentration of Antarctic plants and animal species in relation to volcanoes for the new study.
After analyzing thousands of records, the researchers from Australia were able to show that there are more species close to volcanoes, and fewer further away.
"Volcanic steam can melt large ice caves under the glaciers, and it can be tens of degrees warmer in there than outside," said Dr. Ceridwen Fraser, the lead author from the Australian National University in Canberra, said according to Live Science. "Caves and warm steam fields would have been great places for species to hang out during ice ages."
Antarctica is home to approximately 16 volcanoes which have remained active since the last ice age around 20,000 years ago.
The research was published recently in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"Volcanoes are generally seen as these big, explosive destroyers of life, but they might be important in promoting biodiversity," Fraser said. "This explains how life survived in Antarctica, but we think this idea of geothermal refuges could also apply elsewhere."
Lava reportedly freezes into "amazing" patterns when it flows under, next to, or on ice and snow, and modern eruptions have offered clues to how these patterns are able to form, according to Live Science.
While "glaciovolcanism" is drawing more interest from researchers all around the world, experts in the field say there is a lot more work to be done.
"I think we're on the cusp of a big burst of people starting to really take apart these old volcanoes," Edwards added. "There are a lot of places where no one has looked at these deposits."
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