Professor John Long is in the midst of his fourth expedition to Antarctica, working with a team of US scientists lead by Professor Neil Shubin of The University of Chicago to explore Devonian outcrops of the Transantarctic Mountains around the Deception Glacier region.

While most of Antarctica is covered by a deep sheet of ice, the Transantarctic Mountains reach up above the ice and expose pristine sheets of sedimentary rock, some being rich in fossils.

The team, which has now been airlifted from its Antarctic base camp to the remote exploration site for the next month, hopes to find evidence of the earliest fishes to leave the water and invade land.

The team also hopes to uncover new species of ancient fishes that lived in the river and lake habitats of Gondwana, when Australia and Antarctica were conjoined, about 390 million years ago.

“Merry Christmas from the South Pole,” exclaimed Professor Long in his final missive after a “training shakedown” camp near Mt Erebus, on the eve of the team being airlifted to the remote Deception Glacier.

The expedition is funded through the United States Antarctic Program and the National Science Foundation.

Significant fossils from the Flinders Palaeontology Society’s collection, along with some fossil replicas, sediment and a collection of tools used by palaeontologists during excavations and fossil preparation, are currently on display in Flinders University’s Main Library at Bedford Park.

The display, which also contains some palaeontological books from special collections at central library, is designed to promote the new palaeontology major being offered at Flinders from 2019, and also to make students aware of volunteer opportunities that exist with the Flinders University Palaeontology Society (flyers with contact details are positioned above the display).

The display will remain in the library until May 2019.