Lake Vostok, hidden beneath an Antarctic glacier, is so deep and cold that it resembles an alien planet where life should be impossible Scientists have discovered a surprising amount of critters beneath the frigid water.
The researchers identified billions of species through DNA and RNA sequencing, in a place where life should not be able to exist, according to a Bowling Green State University press release.
"The bounds on what is habitable and what is not are changing," Dr. Scott Rogers, a Bowling Green State University professor of biological sciences who worked on the study, said.
Lake Vostok is the fourth deepest lake on Earth, and the largest sub glacial lake known in Antarctica.
The lake is under high pressure thanks to 1.5 million years-worth of ice coverage and a depth of nearly two miles.
Due to the lake's conditions there are almost no nutrients available. It lies below sea level and experiences harsh and unpredictable weather conditions.
Scientists thought the lake's conditions rendered it inhospitable to all types of life, even bacteria.
The team proved past speculations wrong when they examined the underside of the million-year-old ice.
"We found much more complexity than anyone thought," Rogers said. "It really shows the tenacity of life, and how organisms can survive in places where a couple dozen years ago we thought nothing could survive."
The team found scores of life including bacteria often found in the digestive system of fish, fungi, and two species of single-celled organisms. The researchers found both psychrophiles (which live in extreme cold), and thermophiles (which prefer heat) suggesting the presence of hydrothermal vents.
"Many of the species we sequenced are what we would expect to find in a lake," Rogers said. "Most of the organisms appear to be aquatic (freshwater), and many are species that usually live in ocean or lake sediments."
The variety of marine and aquatic life suggests the lake was once connected to the ocean, and freshwater from the lake helped create the massive glacier.
Antarctica was habitable and teeming with life until a temperature drop 35 million years ago, the change in climate could have caused the lake to freeze over, pushing it below sea level. Another plunge in temperature 14 million years ago could have pushed the lake even further below sea level, cutting it off from the ocean.
Many species must have perished as the lake changed, but a surprising amount of life has survived below the glacier.
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