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Volume 552 Issue 7684, 14 December 2017

The cover shows a selection of fossilized pollen from sediment cores collected from East Antarctica’s continental shelf. These ancient remains were used by Sean Gulick, Amelia Shevenell and their colleagues to help date sediments eroded from the Aurora Subglacial Basin and document the evolution of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet over the past 55 million years. The team’s marine geological record indicates that before 7 million years ago, the ice sheet behaved dynamically and was characterized by substantial surface meltwater, much like today’s Greenland Ice Sheet. This behaviour occurred when temperatures and atmospheric CO2 levels were similar to and higher than present — climate conditions expected to occur with continued global warming. Cover image: Sophie Warny, LSU

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