Antarctica --- the place to go to, to understand the earth's present , past and future

650 million years ago the present day Antarctica was surrounded by a giant amalgamated southern super continent called Gondwana. Thus Antarctica belong to ancient geological era when human beings had not yet evolved, the climate was warm in the continent and supported a huge variety of flora and fauna. the dinosaurs had been wiped out and mammals were beginning to evolved. At this juncture, the Gondwana got separated into countries and shaped the globe as we see it today.
Today Antarctica, the mysterious white continent on the south pole holds the key to the past, present and future of the planet. It is in a way responsible for the formation of Cordilleran folds and pre-Cambrian granite shields as well as the appearance of South America, India and Himalayas on the face of the earth.
No human makers- bill boards and buildings are to be seen here, yet this continent is live and kicking with a variety of living species like the penguins, seals, midges and mites existing there and countless marine species thriving in the salt water under its sheet of ice.
Since the planet is unravaged by human population and civilization, it remains relatively pristine. Its ice-cores hold more than half-million-year-old carbon records which are so crucial for the study of the past, present and the future of our planet. Thus, it is a perfect place to study how little changes in the environment can have big repurcussions.