After more than two hours, Xiang Yang and his team arrived at a new sea area.
In this sea area, Yaoyao can finally see the Antarctic continent.
After seeing the Antarctic continent, the crew immediately put down their work and crowded to the side of the ship.
"Land, it's a continent, Brother Yang, come and see, that's the Antarctic continent." Fang Youqun danced with excitement.
"I saw it."
Xiang Yang was very excited when he saw the Antarctic continent for the first time.
Antarctica is the last continent discovered by mankind and the only continent in the world that has no human inhabitants. The total area of this continent is as high as 13.9 million square kilometers, which is almost equivalent to the combined area of my country and the Indian subcontinent. It is the fifth largest continent in the world.
Xiang Yang looked towards the Antarctic continent. The entire continent was white and covered with ice and snow everywhere.
"This is a precious land that has almost never been developed." Xia Pengjie whispered, "Currently, humans have discovered more than 220 kinds of minerals in Antarctica. If we can develop any one of them, we will make a fortune."
Xiang Yang smiled and shook his head, not even thinking about such unrealistic things. How could he possibly do something that so many countries couldn't do
Antarctica is divided into two parts: East Antarctica and West Antarctica.
East Antarctica extends from 30 degrees east longitude to 170 degrees east longitude, including Coats Land, Queen Maud Land, Enderby Land, Wilkes Land, King George V Coast, Victoria Land, the Antarctic Plateau and the Pole, with a total area of 10.18 million square kilometers.
West Antarctica is located between 50 degrees west longitude and 160 degrees west longitude, including the Antarctic Peninsula, Alexander Island, and Byrd Island.
On the Antarctic continent, there are a large number of scientific research stations and whaling teams from all over the world.
"Look there." Xiang Yang pointed in a direction.
The crew members immediately looked in that direction curiously.
When they saw this, their mouths widened in shock.
"Brother Yang, is this also floating ice?" Fang Youqun asked in amazement.
The piece of ice in front of them was much thicker than the piece of ice that Xiang Yang and his team had used to catch Antarctic krill.
I saw this piece of floating ice, its color was pure white, just like it was made up of heavy snow.
The entire piece of floating ice is roughly shaped like a right triangle. On the far left is a smooth, steep ice wall that is over a hundred meters high.
To the right, the thickness of the ice keeps decreasing, and at the far right, the surface of the ice is only about one or two meters above the sea level.
"How could this be floating ice? It's more like an iceberg. To be precise, it should be a glacier." Xiang Yang immediately shook his head.
Humankind's search for the Antarctic continent has been extremely bumpy.
In the 18th century, explorers headed south in search of the legendary southern continent.
In 1772, British Captain Cook spent three years and eight months sailing 97,000 kilometers around Antarctica. He entered the Antarctic Circle several times but missed the Antarctic continent.
In 1819, Tsar Sultan sent Vostok and Mir to reach the Antarctic Circle after two years and 21 days, and discovered the first Antarctic island.
In February 1823, the British scientist Wilder sailed to 74 degrees south latitude, setting the highest latitude at that time.
It was not until the 19th century that Amundsen of Norway became the first person to set foot on the South Pole.
When talking about Amundsen, one person must be mentioned, and that is Captain Robert.
Although Captain Robert arrived at the South Pole 34 days later than Amundsen, he is recognized by all navigators in the world as the greatest Antarctic explorer and is even considered the pioneer of mankind in Antarctica.
These explorers opened the door to Antarctica for mankind and also brought this huge treasure of Antarctica to mankind.
First of all, apart from anything else, the mineral resources in Antarctica alone are enough to drive any country in the world crazy, although those mineral resources are extremely difficult to mine.
According to the distribution of resources that have been verified, Antarctica ranks first in the world in terms of reserves of coal, iron and oil, and other mineral resources are still under exploration.
More and richer mineral resources may be discovered in the Antarctic region, providing a scientific basis for humans to utilize these resources.
The Permian coal seams of the Antarctic continent are mainly distributed under the Antarctic ice sheet, with reserves of about 500 billion tons.
In addition, iron ore is also one of Antarctica's richest mineral resources.
Iron ore is mainly distributed in East Antarctica.
According to scientists' surveys, in the strata in the southern part of Prince Charles Mountains, from the Late Archean to the Proterozoic, there was a strip of magnetite-rich rock layer with a thickness of 400 meters, a length of 120-180 kilometers, and a width of 5-10 kilometers. The average grade of the ore is 32%-58%, which is an iron-rich deposit with industrial mining value. Preliminary estimates show that its reserves can be developed and utilized by the whole world for 200 years, making it the largest iron-rich deposit in the world today.
What's even crazier is that if you continue walking northward along the longitude range of the Prince Charles Mountains in Antarctica, you will find that in the Arctic region, which is almost symmetrical at the same longitude, there is another world-class iron ore area.
Many people envy places like Dubai and Saudi Arabia because they have abundant oil resources. Even if they do nothing, they can make a lot of money just by selling oil.
In fact, Antarctica also has very rich oil reserves.
After field surveys and long-term scientific expeditions, geologists discovered that the Antarctic region has oil reserves of about 50-100 billion barrels and natural gas reserves of an astonishing 30-50 billion cubic meters.
The Ross Sea, Weddell Sea and Bellingshausen Sea in Antarctica and the Antarctic continental shelf are major sources of oil and natural gas.
In the past, due to the vast area of Antarctica, the ice sheet several thousand meters thick and the harsh natural environment limited scientists' investigations, and humans did not know much about the mineral resources in Antarctica and its continental shelf. However, through decades of uninterrupted work, the Antarctic minerals have gradually been unveiled.
At present, my country alone has discovered more than 100 mineral deposits and mining sites in Antarctica.
Of course, at present the distribution maps of these mineral resources can only be kept in mind, and development is not allowed.
First, geological surveys and mineral resource development in the Antarctic continent and its continental shelf are quite difficult.
Second, humans are worried about the damage and pollution to the environment and ecology that may be caused by the development of mineral resources.
But as the mineral resources available for development in other continents become increasingly scarce and exhausted, sooner or later mankind will seek a way out in the ocean, Antarctica or other places.
As for people's concerns about the environmental and ecological damage and pollution that may be caused by the development of mineral resources, Xiang Yang believes that proper solutions can be found through scientific and technological progress.
Of course, this requires a very long process. At least for now, these precious mineral resources, including Xiang Yang's, can only be viewed.
"Captain, do we want to go to that glacier and take a look?" Fang Youqun asked.