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Scientists find the remains of tiny animals in a lake deep beneath Antarctic ice
Scientists have found the remains of tiny animals in a lake one kilometre beneath Antarctic ice that has lain undisturbed for thousands of years. The minute carcasses of crustaceans and tardigrades, also known as “water bears” or “moss piglets”, were discovered by a US research team drilling into the Mercer subglacial lake about 600 kilometres (370 miles) from the South Pole. The discovery suggests that life may exist in more complex forms underneath the ice sheet in Antarctica than previously thought.
Subglacial lakes
Lake Mercer is a subglacial lake sandwiched beneath the thick ice sheet and the frozen rocks of Antarctica. There are many such lakes—around 250–300 are currently known, with Lake Vostok by far the largest. Lake Mercer covers an area of about 139 square kilometres (54 square miles) and may be linked to other subglacial lakes by a network of subglacial rivers.
How do lakes form?
One way that liquid can form under the Antarctic ice is from heat radiating up from the Earth's crust. This is called geothermal energy. It can be warm enough to melt the bottom of the ice sheets; the meltwater then pools and collects into lakes. Lakes can also form by the immense pressure of the thick ice pressing down from above. This pressure can create heat, which causes melting at the base of the ice sheet.
Drilling
The expedition team used drills and hot water to open a borehole from the frozen surface down through 1068 metres (3504 feet) of ice to the buried lake. Lake Mercer's water temperature is -0.65°C (30.8°F). Researchers took water samples and sediment cores (1.7 metres / 5 foot 7 inches) from the lake, which was about 15 metres (49 feet) deep at that spot. The team also lowered a remotely-operated underwater vehicle (ROV) into the dark waters of the lake, as well as several cameras.
Discovery of remains
As the scientists had expected, mud from Lake Mercer's icy waters contained remnants of algae that lived in Antarctica millions of years ago when the continent was much warmer. But the mud also contained the bodies of more recent creatures, which came as a surprise. The scientists think that the animals may have lived in nearby ponds and streams during warmer periods. The creatures might have been washed into the lake through rivers under the ice, or carried in after becoming stuck to the underside of the ice. Either way, it opens up the possibility that life may exist in more complex forms underneath the ice sheet in Antarctica than previously thought.
At this stage, however, it is not possible to rule out the possibility that the animal remains were carried into the lake on contaminated drill equipment.
Tardigrades
Tardigrades (also known as water bears or moss-piglets) are tiny, water-dwelling, eight-legged animals with clawed feet, usually no more than 0.5 mm when fully grown. They live in many environments, ranging from mountain tops to deep oceans, but are most are commonly found on mosses and lichens where they feed on algae and small invertebrates.
Tardigrades are able to survive extreme conditions that would instantly kill nearly all other life-forms. They can withstand crushing pressure, temperature ranges from -272°C (-458°F) to 150°C (300°F) and radiation hundreds of times higher than the lethal dose for a human. They can go without food or water for more than 10 years, and even live in the vacuum of outer space.
Bacterial life
One reason why scientists are hopeful that live tardigrades might be found in Lake Mercer is that its dark waters not only contain sufficient oxygen but are also teeming with bacterial life. This could provide a food source for the microscopic animals. Scientists suggest that the bacteria are themselves surviving on deposits of carbon laid down by organisms living between 5000 and 10,000 years ago, when the lake—and others like it—may have been connected to the open ocean.
The existence of bacteria in such an inhospitable environment is a sign that life-forms could exist on other planets or moons in the Solar System. Signs of an underground lake of liquid saltwater have recently been reported on Mars, and astronomers strongly suspect that oceans exist beneath the icy crusts of both Jupiter's moon Europa and Saturn's moon Enceladus.
All images, unless otherwise credited, NASA/JPL-Caltech