TheAntarctic iceconceals a variety of secrets . Once a warm forested part of the world during the eld of the dinosaur , manyfossilsof which are just wait to be dig , it also have the world ’s largest canon scheme and atreasure troveof meteorites that were forged in the fervent furnace at the origin of the Solar System .
There are also liquid freshwater lakes beneath the surface of the gelid realm . Lake Vostokis probably the most well - known : After being left undisturbed for around 25 million years , scientists were sweep over with curio and it was carefully breached .
Now it seem that investigator have another subterranean lake to add to their increasingly various accumulation of hidden geologic jewel . As revealed by the research team at the annual gathering of the European Geophysical Union ( EGU ) in Vienna this calendar month , it is second only in size to the enormous Lake Vostok . The findings were reported byMotherboard .
water ice at the surface is form by what type of rock it ’s resting on , so by looking at unusual geographic lineament using ground - penetrate radio detection and ranging , scientist are capable to make in effect guesses as to what may be concealed beneath . This time around , a collection of grooves at the surface let on to the external squad – who were in fact responsible for thecanyon discoverylast yr using the same method acting – that a subglacial lake , ended with its own channels , still live beneath the ice .
The lake itself is around 100 kilometer ( 62 stat mi ) long , 10 kilometer ( 6.2 miles ) wide , and isribbon - shaped . It also appears connected to the canon , and channels leading away from it may be transporting water towards the West Ice Shelf and into the ocean .
There are more lake waiting to be attain beneath the southern continent . Volodymyr Goinyk / Shutterstock
The researchers , from the U.K. , China and the U.S. , are meeting this May to discuss the microwave radar data that they have independently gathered , so as to try and dead confirm the existence of both the canyon system and the subglacial lake . Both would be of huge interest to life scientist , who are keen to search ecosystems that have persist unaffected for tens of millions of yr .
Whether or not these fresh - discovered regionscontain lifeis yet to be seen . However , this theory is n’t a particularly improbable one : The research squad enquire Lake Vostok , for deterrent example , have find hint that simple microbes could still be thriving at these icy depths .
Possibly heated by hydrothermal activity – hot , roving fluids associate with volcanic processes – Vostok was cover to have grounds of more than3,500 differentDNA sequences hide out within it , from bacteria and archaea to viruses andeven fish . However , the bailiwick in motion has beenopenly doubtedby other researchers , so more data is required before this can be settled .
animation , however , has indeed been find in other lakes across the icy continent . A practice core from one , Lake Whillans , turn back 130,000 cells per millilitre of subglacial lake water , which is a density of biography similar to that found in the depths of the world ’s oceans .
This microbial life has survived without sunlight for up to 1 million old age , so it seems more than probable that it can also be find in more of Antarctica’s350 entomb lakes – including , of course , this new accession to the family .
( H / T : Motherboard )
