Russians Lead the World: What Was Discovered in the Secret Lake Beneath the Antarctic Ice

Author:

Natalia Stolitsynaya

One of the largest lakes in the world is covered by a four-kilometer thick layer of ice, and Russian scientists were the first to study it. This lake, which is about the size of the Kaliningrad Oblast, has been completely isolated from the outside world for millions of years. The "Vostok Station" is located here — on July 21, 1983, this place recorded the lowest temperature in meteorological history: minus 89.2 degrees Celsius. But there are more miracles here.

Ice Core Samples from Millions of Years Ago

Our scientists have found that Lake Vostok covers an area of nearly 16,000 square kilometers and is about 1,200 meters deep. It may have formed due to melting at the lower surface of the ice layer. If so, its age is estimated to be between 2 million and 3 million years. If it existed before the Antarctic was frozen, its history could be around 40 million years.

Researchers believe that studying this lake will help reveal the origin of life on Earth and other planets. There have already been some discoveries. This is thanks to the establishment of a research station by polar explorers on December 16, 1957, near the South Magnetic Pole, at an altitude of 3.4 kilometers. With this station, scientists mapped so-called seismic profiles to detect whether there are water layers under the ice. Andrei Kapitsa, the brother of the host of the program "Obvious and Unbelievable," Sergei Kapitsa, was one of the first discoverers.

Incidentally, Soviet pilots noticed smooth depressions on the ice when surveying areas of Antarctica that were difficult for humans to reach. They called them "lakes" and used them for navigation. Later, it was confirmed that these were indeed projections of subglacial lakes on the surface.

Valery Lugin, author of several popular science books on the Arctic and Antarctic, and researcher.

Initially, the purpose of drilling holes was two-fold: to obtain ice core samples from millions of years ago and to study geological processes and biological characteristics. Scientists said that despite the extreme environment, there are microorganisms that survive. Valery Lugin, author of several popular science books on the Arctic and Antarctic, and a geographer, pointed out when talking about major scientific discoveries: "In the 20th century, I can't find an achievement of greater global scale than the discovery of Lake Vostok, not only in Antarctica but globally."

Drilling started in 1990. In 1998, the depth of the drill hole reached 3,623 meters. "According to our geophysicists, we were about 150 meters away from the ice-water boundary, with an error of plus or minus 30 meters," he said.

But then they encountered obstacles — the international community advised Russia to suspend drilling until a technology for environmentally friendly lake opening was developed.

Is the Bottom of the Lake Hot?

Interestingly, some of the most active opponents included French participants in the joint deep drilling project, who did not want us to "enter" the lake. They had planned to establish an international research station 100 kilometers away from the "Vostok Station" to explore the lake.

However, "many people were shocked" — Russia developed unique technology from scratch within three years (despite the opponents' claim that all good scientists and engineers had left Russia).

Valery Lugin said that in 1998, the Russian Ministry of Science and Technology immediately assigned the project task, the project was completed in 2000, and in March 2001, the experts passed the national environmental assessment.

It is reported that engineers used a special drill bit with valves. To prevent microorganisms from entering the lake ecosystem, they injected silicone oil into the borehole 100 meters away from the lake. When the drill bit reached the lake, the lake water rose into the pipe under pressure and froze. This formed a sterile ice mass, from which scientists extracted samples. However, it was not until February 2012 that they finally touched the surface of this secret lake.

After purifying the samples, scientists discovered DNA of 49 different phylogenetic types of bacteria and were very surprised: some of these local organisms had genome similarities of less than 86% with known forms of life. That is, they are new forms of life. Some bacteria are thermophiles, which can live comfortably in temperatures above zero. It seems that where does the heat come from in the environment of minus 80 degrees Celsius on the surface? Later, it was found that there is a strong geothermal resource at the bottom of the lake, with a temperature of up to 10 degrees above zero. Scientists concluded that the bottom of Lake Vostok is likely hot and has geothermal activity. The pressure is about 400 atmospheres, and the oxygen content is 50 times the normal level. Excess oxygen is as deadly as lack of oxygen. In such an environment, most organisms would die instantly, but these bacteria could survive.

In addition, ice "islands" were found at the site: about 10 ice structures, the largest being the size of a city.

"Close to Space — Similar to Mars' Polar Ice Cap"

How many secrets does Lake Vostok hide? Time will tell, but so far, this unique lake has significant scientific and social significance for the globe.

Valery Lugin believes: "One of the most promising directions of scientific research in Antarctica is to develop a new generation of drugs using the genetic resources of Antarctic microorganisms."

Currently, over 400 subglacial lakes have been discovered in Antarctica. However, this is just an approximate figure, because many lakes are detected through radar, and this technology cannot measure the thickness of water layers. Scientists are confident that more discoveries will be made in the future. For example, through this lake, people can learn more about past climates, solve a series of space exploration issues, and explain changes on Earth.

This geographer stated: "This lake is very close to the space environment — for example, similar to the polar ice caps of Mars and the environment of Jupiter's moon Europa. These are places where we most hope to find extraterrestrial life."

Are these previously unknown traces of life dangerous? Could some pathogen more可怕的 than Ebola suddenly appear in this mysterious body of water? Scientists have ruled out this possibility. They said that the lake under the four-kilometer-thick ice layer creates unique natural conditions on Earth that do not exist anywhere else on the planet.

Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7523918146797912618/

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