Underground Antarctic lake sealed off for 15 million years reveals thousands of forms of life beneath ice two MILES thick
- U.S. scientists believe that Antarctica's largest and deepest underground lake could contain thousands of different tiny organisms and even fish
- Many researchers had thought that the Lake Vostok, buried underneath two miles of ice, was completely inhospitable to life and even sterile
- DNA sequences from ice samples hint that there could be deep sea thermal vents to provide energy and nutrients vital for organisms living in the lake
American scientists believe that Antarctica's largest and deepest underground lake could contain thousands of different tiny organisms and even fish.
Scientists say that the icy darkness of Lake Vostok, which has been cut off from the outside world for 15 million years under 3,700 metres of ice, provides a glimpse of the planet before the Ice Age.
Research from Bowling Green State University, Ohio, suggests that the lake harbours plenty of life from bacteria to complex organisms.
Not only had most scientists believed Lake Vostok completely inhospitable to life, some thought it might even be sterile.
Drilling into history: American researchers have found evidence of bacterial life in ice samples taken from Lake Vostock
After two years of computer analysis of DNA sequences from ice samples, the final results showed that Lake Vostok contains a diverse set of microbes, as well as some multicellular organisms.
Over 3,500 DNA sequences were identified in samples of ice 'as clear as diamonds' extracted from the ice, of which 95 per cent were associated with types of bacteria.
The remaining five per cent of the samples contained hints of more complex organisms called eukaryokes and two of them were linked to one-called organisms called archaea.
Dr Scott Rogers, a Bowling Green State University professor of biological sciences and his team found sequences that are similar to types of fungi as well as water fleas, arthropods and a mollusk.
Interestingly come of the bacteria are generally found in fish guts, suggesting that there could be fish in the subterranean lake, according to the research published in the PLOS ONE journal.
Most scientists believed Lake Vostok (pictured from above) was completely inhospitable to life. But new research suggests that it contains a diverse set of microbes, as well as some multicellular organisms
LAKE VOSTOK'S ICY PAST
- Lake Vostok is the fourth deepest lake on Earth
- It is the largest Antarctica's 400+ subglacial lakes
- The lake lies far below sea level in a depression that formed 60 million years ago when the continental plates shifted and cracked
- 35 million years ago it was surrounded by forests and open to the air
- Ice has covered its depths for the past 15 million years
- At its thickest the ice is over two miles deep
- There are few nutrients available in Lake Vostok's waters
- Earlier this year Russian researchers said they had found bacteria, but samples were contaminated
'The bounds of what is habitable and what is not are changing,' said Dr Rogers.
Lake Vostok is located 800 miles from the South Pole and 35 million years ago, when the climate was warmer, was thought to have been open to the air and surrounded by forests.
The researchers said: 'At that time, the lake probably contained a complex network of organisms.'
They think that the organisms were sealed in the lake, which is around a quarter of a mile deep, by the thick ice approximately 15 million years ago.
They said: 'While the current conditions are different than earlier in history, the lake seems to have maintained a surprisingly diverse community of organisms.
'These organisms may have slowly adapted to the changing conditions in Lake Vostok during the past 15 to 35 million years when the lake converted from a terrestrial system to a subglacial system.'
Several of the sequences are similar to organisms that live near deep sea thermal vents, leading researchers to believes that Lake Vostok might contain similar features in its icy depths.
Dr Scott Rogers of Bowling Green State University found DNA sequences that are similar to types of fungi as well as water fleas, arthropods and a mollusk, from ice samples taken from Lake Vostok (research station pictured). He believes there could be fish and deep sea thermal vents in the lake
'Hydrothermal vents could provide sources of energy and nutrients vital for organisms living in the lake,' the scientists said.
Russian researchers suggested that a unique form of bacteria had been discovered in water samples from the 15 million year old lake.
However, their findings were later said to be because of contamination.
The American researchers were keen to say that they took great pains to prevent contamination of their samples and said that the various sequences were the type that many scientists expected to see in a subglacial lake.
'Most of the organisms appear to be aquatic (freshwater), and many are species that usually live in ocean or lake sediments,' Dr Rogers said.
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