He's a biologist it studies land and sea.
Ice is being drilled. Ice perfectly preserves microorganisms and organic matter. The thickness of the ice is up to 4 km, so you can look at 20-30, if a successful layer and further, many thousands of years into the past, and not just look at the stones, but at almost living matter. Plus, under the ice, there are deposits not only of coal, the equator used to pass there, and palm trees grew.
Mermaids have a fish tail instead of legs