Biology/Geology:
Antarctica is an interesting continent. Once, millions of years ago, it actually had a lush landscape. However now most of it is a frozen wasteland of ice. Under the ice is a different story though. There are lakes and rivers flowing and they might even contain life.
"Antarctica's buried lakes are connected by a network of rivers moving water far beneath the surface, say UK scientists. It was thought the sub-glacial lakes had been completely sealed for millions of years, enabling unique species to evolve in them. Writing in the journal Nature, experts say international plans to drill into the lakes may now have to be reviewed. Any attempts to drill into one body of water risks contaminating others.
"What this paper shows is that not only could you contaminate a lake, you could contaminate the whole drainage system," lead author Duncan Wingham, of University College London, told the BBC News website."
"Secret rivers found in Antarctica." BBC News
Secret rivers in Antarctica
Zobrazujú sa príspevky s označením Antarctica. Zobraziť všetky príspevky
Zobrazujú sa príspevky s označením Antarctica. Zobraziť všetky príspevky
nedeľa 11. apríla 2010
pondelok 15. júna 2009
Below Antarctica
Geology/Biology:
"Scientists have found an ancient ecosystem below an Antarctic glacier and learned that it survived millions of years by transforming sulfur and iron compounds for growth.
Described in the latest issue of Science, the ecosystem lives without light or oxygen in a pool of brine trapped below Taylor Glacier and next to frozen Lake Bonney in eastern Antarctica, said John Priscu, co-author of the Science article. Priscu is a longtime Antarctic researcher and professor in the Department of Land Resources and Environmental Sciences at Montana State University.
The ecosystem contains a diversity of bacteria that thrive in cold, salty water loaded with iron and sulfur. The water averages 14 degrees Fahrenheit, but doesn't freeze because the water is three or four times saltier than the ocean.
The scientists made a breakthrough discovery when they learned that the bacteria convert key elements on Earth into food, Priscu said. The bacteria cycle sulfur compounds to access iron in the bedrock."
"Ancient Ecosystem Thrives Millions of Years Below Antarctic Glacier." Space Daily
Ancient Ecosystem Below Antarctic Glacier
"Buried beneath several miles of ice in Antarctica are lakes ranging in size from Lake Ontario to lakes the size of Manhattan. Lake Vostok, the largest subglacial lake on Earth, is believed to harbor ancient life that has been isolated from open exchange with the atmosphere for several million years."
"Ancient Lakes of Antarctica - Living Biological Labs Millions of Years Old." The Daily Galaxy
Ancient Antarctic Lakes
"Scientists have found what they say is the first evidence of a volcanic eruption under the Antarctic ice sheet.
They believe the volcano erupted about 2,000 years ago, and would have burst through its ice covering, producing a burst of steam and rocky debris."
"Ancient Antarctic Eruption Noted." BBC News
Ancient Antarctic Eruption
"Scientists have found an ancient ecosystem below an Antarctic glacier and learned that it survived millions of years by transforming sulfur and iron compounds for growth.
Described in the latest issue of Science, the ecosystem lives without light or oxygen in a pool of brine trapped below Taylor Glacier and next to frozen Lake Bonney in eastern Antarctica, said John Priscu, co-author of the Science article. Priscu is a longtime Antarctic researcher and professor in the Department of Land Resources and Environmental Sciences at Montana State University.
The ecosystem contains a diversity of bacteria that thrive in cold, salty water loaded with iron and sulfur. The water averages 14 degrees Fahrenheit, but doesn't freeze because the water is three or four times saltier than the ocean.
The scientists made a breakthrough discovery when they learned that the bacteria convert key elements on Earth into food, Priscu said. The bacteria cycle sulfur compounds to access iron in the bedrock."
"Ancient Ecosystem Thrives Millions of Years Below Antarctic Glacier." Space Daily
Ancient Ecosystem Below Antarctic Glacier
"Buried beneath several miles of ice in Antarctica are lakes ranging in size from Lake Ontario to lakes the size of Manhattan. Lake Vostok, the largest subglacial lake on Earth, is believed to harbor ancient life that has been isolated from open exchange with the atmosphere for several million years."
"Ancient Lakes of Antarctica - Living Biological Labs Millions of Years Old." The Daily Galaxy
Ancient Antarctic Lakes
"Scientists have found what they say is the first evidence of a volcanic eruption under the Antarctic ice sheet.
They believe the volcano erupted about 2,000 years ago, and would have burst through its ice covering, producing a burst of steam and rocky debris."
"Ancient Antarctic Eruption Noted." BBC News
Ancient Antarctic Eruption
pondelok 8. júna 2009
Ancient Antarctica and the Origin of the Ice Sheets
Geology:
Ancient Antarctica millions of years ago supposedly looked like what the Alps look like today. There were mountains and valleys. It was only about 14 million years ago that the ice sheet covered those up.
"Many studies hint that Antarctica’s ice sheet began to form about 34 million years ago, but where that ice sheet originated and how it evolved have long been mysteries. Now, scientists who used ice-penetrating radar to survey a 30-by-30–kilometer area in East Antarctica report in the June 4 Nature that they may have discovered the birthplace of the Antarctic ice sheet.
The area surveyed during two field seasons — the Antarctic summers of 2005 and 2007 — sits more than 4 kilometers above sea level and is known as Dome A, says Simon M. Mudd, a geomorphologist at the University of Edinburgh. Buried far beneath that region’s relatively flat surface, however, lies a chain of peaks called the Gamburtsev Mountains. The new data, the first collected in the region since an aircraft-mounted radar probed the ice nearby in the 1970s, provides the first detailed glimpse at the subglacial topography there, Mudd says. “The topography here is less well known than the surface of Mars,” he notes."
"Ancient Antarctica, Before the Ice." Science News
Ancient Antarctica
Ancient Antarctica millions of years ago supposedly looked like what the Alps look like today. There were mountains and valleys. It was only about 14 million years ago that the ice sheet covered those up.
"Many studies hint that Antarctica’s ice sheet began to form about 34 million years ago, but where that ice sheet originated and how it evolved have long been mysteries. Now, scientists who used ice-penetrating radar to survey a 30-by-30–kilometer area in East Antarctica report in the June 4 Nature that they may have discovered the birthplace of the Antarctic ice sheet.
The area surveyed during two field seasons — the Antarctic summers of 2005 and 2007 — sits more than 4 kilometers above sea level and is known as Dome A, says Simon M. Mudd, a geomorphologist at the University of Edinburgh. Buried far beneath that region’s relatively flat surface, however, lies a chain of peaks called the Gamburtsev Mountains. The new data, the first collected in the region since an aircraft-mounted radar probed the ice nearby in the 1970s, provides the first detailed glimpse at the subglacial topography there, Mudd says. “The topography here is less well known than the surface of Mars,” he notes."
"Ancient Antarctica, Before the Ice." Science News
Ancient Antarctica
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