What would the geology and climate of a supposed landmass near the pole be like, assuming a thoroughly warmer planet?

I am designing a fantasy setting for pen-and-paper role-playing purposes. I have decided that a continent be situated right on a Pole of some imaginary planet with axial tilt comparable to Earth. My question is: is it possible to achieve environmental conditions in the Continent at least somewhat similar to those of current-day Europe?

My understanding of Earth climate is that the poles, while extremely cold, are also very dry in terms of precipitation since there is less solar radiation per square meter, and cold air holds less water vapour. I have heard that in a warmer part of Earth's history the poles had vegetation - is this possible even with the ever-present high-pressure zone?

I guess one way the continent could be habitable is to be full of freshwater rivers, originating from glaciers high atop of some mountains. I guess such mountains are plausible near the pole (I don't think the movement and mutual interaction of continental plates are somehow dependent of the latitude, are they?)

The size of the continent would be comparable to Central Europe. The land would include mountain ranges at the Pole and its vicinity, and a large meteorite crater (almost all asteroids orbit on the ecliptic plane, making an impact like this very rare, so that might be implausible).

The distance between the North Pole and the Arctic circle would be about two thirds of that distance on Earth, which would result in the planet being smaller (provided that the axial tilt remains similar, which I am intending to preserve).

(this was originally posted on 'earthscience' before I was unaware of the existence of 'worldbuilding', and there were some nice comments there)

posted over 6 years ago

user35897‭

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