14 DAY TRIAL // A new study in the journal Geophysical Researcher Letters details how, with the help of state-of-the-art technologies, a team of researchers was able to identify and document a so-called ice crater that had formed in Antarctica.
The crater extends over an area of 100 square miles (260 square km), and measures up to 230 feet (70 meters) in depth.
Investigations led researchers to the conclusion that the crater formed because of a lake buried beneath the Antarctic ice cover.
Scientists suspect that, between 2007-2008, this lake over-topped. When this happened, Antarctica was flooded. Unlike regular floods, this one took place under the ice cover.
In the aftermath of the flood, some 6 billion tons of water were drained. This phenomenon led to the formation of the crater, Live Science reports.
“There's a lot of mystery surrounding the continent still that we don't understand.
“This will be modeled in terms of the ice dynamics and the thermal impacts of this feature, and that will add to the general knowledge of the continent,” researcher Hugh Corr comments on the importance of this discovery.