Lakes can form under the thick ice sheet of Antarctica, where the weight of the ice causes enormous
Previously, under the Antarctic ice sheet there wasmore than 400 "subglacial" lakes have been discovered, many of which have been isolated from each other and the atmosphere for millions of years. Any life in these lakes can be just as old. Studying it will change the understanding of how life adapts and develops in the constant extreme cold conditions that occurred earlier in the history of the Earth.
Expeditions successfully drilled two smallsubglacial lake at the edge of the ice sheet. Research has revealed microbial life underneath the ice, but whether the larger lakes isolated under the central ice sheet contain and sustain life remains open.
In a study published in the journalScience Advances, researchers from Imperial CollegeLondon, the University of Lyon and the British Antarctic Survey have proven that subglacial lakes can be more hospitable than it seems at first glance. Since lakes don't have access to sunlight, microbes in these environments obtain energy not through photosynthesis, but through the processing of chemicals. They are concentrated in sediments at the bottom of lakes, where life is thought to be most likely.
However, in order for life to be widerwidespread and therefore easier to identify and detect, the water in the lake must move so that sediment, nutrients and oxygen are distributed more evenly.
In lakes on the surface of the Earth, this mixingcaused by wind and solar heat, causing convection currents. Since none of them can affect subglacial lakes, it can be assumed that there is no mixing.
However, scientists found that anotherthe heat source is sufficient to induce convection currents in most subglacial lakes. Geothermal heat: it rises from the bowels of the earth and is generated by a combination of heat left over from the formation of the planet and the decay of radioactive elements. The researchers calculated that this heat could stimulate convection currents in sub-ice lakes that weigh small sediment particles and move oxygen, allowing much of the reservoir to be hospitable to life.
Researchers' predictions may soon beverified as the UK and Chilean team plans to sample a lake called Lake CECs in the next few years. Samples taken from the depths of the lake will show exactly where microbial life lives.
Predictions can also be used to create theories about life in other parts of the solar system. The physics of subglacial water pockets is similar to Earth and icy moons.
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