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It's quite possible it's NEVER happened before. There's a mountain chain in Antarctica that's encased in two miles of ice. The peaks are actually sharp like they've never been subjected to any weathering.

So, how old is that ice?

Turns out the mountains are anywhere from 300 million to 500 million years old ~ which makes them among the oldest such formations on Earth. You recall, of course, that the time-frame takes us back to the Carboniferous Age ~ which had a denser, thicker atmosphere with giant flying insects, and huge millipedes, and swamps making coal formations.

Those mountains are like they're not a day older than they were then and that's because they have not, for the most part, ever been affected by erosion!

That's right ~ it never happened. That ice formed; stayed there for hundreds of millions of years (maybe even half a billion years) and didn't budge. The only erosion in the area formed at the shoreline, and that lasted only a short time in geologic terms.

It's almost like Snowball Earth happened, things warmed up, but not everywhere, and there's a place that's just as cold now as it was then.

You'd best believe that these recently reported discoveries about the Gamburtsev Mountain Range are shaking up the scientific world. (NOTE: You want to look for a report issued in November 2010 ~ the other stuff on the net is kind of dated).