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Outbyte PC Repair FREERepair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Outbyte Driver Updater FREEFix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Yes. A 2026 study reports geological evidence that recurring, relatively low-temperature surface fires burned in a temperate forest and peatland near the Cretaceous South Pole about 90 million years ago. The evidence comes from a sediment core in West Antarctica; researchers infer the fires from preserved traces rather than direct observation.
What the study found
The core was recovered from the Amundsen Sea area of West Antarctica, about 900 kilometres from the South Pole, according to the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI). Its roughly 90-million-year-old sediments preserve forest soil, roots, pollen and spores. Those remains indicate that this high-latitude region once supported a temperate, swampy forest ecosystem, very different from ice-covered Antarctica today.
The study, published in Communications Earth & Environment, examines how fire and early Sphagnum peatlands developed together near the Cretaceous South Pole. Its conclusions concern this particular West Antarctic site and sediment record, not the whole continent. The researchers describe the fires as frequent, low-temperature surface fires; the evidence does not establish giant, canopy-consuming conflagrations.
How researchers inferred ancient fires
No one witnessed these fires. The interpretation rests on several kinds of geological evidence preserved in the core, considered together rather than on charcoal alone. The primary study reports macro- and microcharcoal, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, maceral analysis, inertinite reflectance and charcoal morphology. These are examined in the context of the surrounding sediments and fossil plant evidence.
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AWI also reports that microscopic charcoal becomes more abundant in younger sediments and that amber, fossil tree resin, appears to have sealed fire-damaged areas on trunks. Such traces help reconstruct past conditions, but they are not a record of the flames themselves or a direct measurement of each fire’s size or intensity.
What the ancient landscape may have been like
Pollen, spores, roots and forest-soil evidence point to temperate woodland and wetland conditions, with peatland developing as sediments accumulated. The authors interpret recurrent burning and vegetation as interacting during the emergence of early Sphagnum peatlands. That is a reconstruction from the sediment record, not proof that the ancient ecosystem worked exactly like a modern one.
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Northumbria University’s summary gives an estimated average annual temperature of around 12°C near the South Pole during the interval. This is a reconstructed estimate, not a direct temperature measurement. The study’s broad ecological comparisons with modern environments should also be kept in perspective: ancient atmospheric conditions and plant communities differed from those of today.
Was this the first evidence of Antarctic fires?
No. A separate 2023 study reported Late Cretaceous paleo-wildfire deposits on King George Island in the Antarctic Peninsula. It associated those events with volcanic deposits. The 2026 result is a different record: it comes from an Amundsen Sea core in West Antarctica and focuses on fire traces alongside early peatland development. The two studies concern different locations and evidence, so the 2026 finding should not be called the first wildfire evidence anywhere in Antarctica.
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The earlier record is described in Frontiers in Earth Science. Its volcanic context does not establish an ignition source for the fires inferred from the 2026 West Antarctic core.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What the evidence does not establish
- It does not provide a witnessed account of the fires or identify how the 2026 site’s fires started.
- It does not establish a precise fire count, recurrence interval, burned area or continent-wide fire pattern.
- It supports the authors’ interpretation of frequent, low-temperature surface fires, not a claim that high-intensity crown fires swept the forest.
Read the primary study, “Co-evolution of wildfires and early Sphagnum-peatlands near the Cretaceous South Pole”, for its full account of the proxy evidence and interpretation.
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