Antarctic ice-seabed interactions

We are still talking about Antarctica, the continent that keeps on giving!

Alan and Thom discuss trying to stop working momentarily, constructing a treehouse, and acquiring a shark.

In the news, we rattle off a list of newly discovered species with some very cool (but hard to pronounce) names. There has been a lot of squiddy news. Footage of divers swimming with a giant squid has resurfaced; in an exclusive for the podcast, Alan has recorded more amazing Magnapinna (bigfin or elbow squid) footage. And the biggest bit of news: the colossal squid has been seen alive in its natural habitat for the first time! Thom and Kat were part of the press conference.

Megalodon (the not-deep-sea and very extinct shark) has been reassessed based on what we do know. It was likely longer and slimmer than we thought, and we have estimations for their speed and size at birth.

We also have a new coelacanth population and a classic car found in the deep.

For this month's interview, we speak with Devin Harrison - Marine Geoscientist/Postdoctoral Researcher at Kelpie Geoscience - Devin is a postdoctoral research fellow at Kelpie Geoscience. His research utilises high-resolution topographic models of the seafloor and complementary geophysical and geospatial datasets to understand the geomorphic evolution and process landform relationship of the deep sea and the continental shelves. Devin is particularly interested in the glacial geomorphological record and the evolution of glacial environments from the last glacial maximum (~20-25 thousand years ago) to the present day.

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Elena

Thanks again for tuning in; we’ll deep-see you next time!

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Alan - @Hadalbloke

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Thom - @thom.linley

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Reference list News New Species

A new species of hound shark from the northern Indian ocean, Iago goplakrishnani

New genus and species of feather duster worm from the hydrocarbon seeps in the Gulf of Mexico. – Seepicola viridiplumi

Five new trench isopods in the Haploniscus belyaevi complex.

And a new dumbo octopis, Grimpoteuthis feitiana

Megalodon

New paper on the meg

Tyler Greenfield’s blog

Divers swim with giant squid

Divers Encounter a Live Giant Squid Swimming on the Ocean Surface

https://youtu.be/gZxGGQc_hRI?si=ZmRhwaIF2T9RV-Lk – original video

The colossal squid has been seen!

Original video with Kat’s voiceover

Kat’s piece in The Conversation

Deep-sea classic car

Interview

Dowdeswell, J.A., Canals, M., Jakobsson, M., Todd, B.J., Dowdeswell, E.K. and Hogan, K. (eds.), 2016. Atlas of Submarine Glacial Landforms: Modern, Quaternary and Ancient, The Geological Society of London, London. vol. 46, 618pp. doi:10.1144/M46.

Batchelor, C.L., Christie, F.D.W., Ottesen, D., Montelli, A., Evans, J., Dowdeswell, E.K., Bjarnadóttir, L.R. and Dowdeswell, J.A., 2023. Rapid, buoyancy-driven ice-sheet retreat of hundreds of metres per day. Nature, vol. 617, issue 7959, p.105-110. Doi:10.1038/s41586-023-05876-1.

Smith, J.A., Graham, A.G.C., Post, A.L. et al. The marine geological imprint of Antarctic ice shelves. Nat Commun 10, 5635 (2019).

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-13496-5

Seafloor surficial sediment variability across the abyssal plains of the central and eastern Pacific Ocean

https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/earth-science/articles/10.3389/feart.2025.1527469/full

Credits

Theme: Hadal Zone Express by Märvel

Logo image: Lance Wordsworth (Inkfish Media)

Song of the month: The Midnight Zone by SLADE