14 DAY TRIAL // Antarctica's Lake Hodgson is home to fossilized remains of microbes that set up camp in this part of the world about 100,000 years ago, researchers from the British Antarctic Survey, and the Universities of Northumbria and Edinburgh say.
This subglacial lake sits in the Antarctic Peninsula. It is approximately 93 meters deep (305 feet), 1.5 kilometers long (0.93 miles) and 1.5 kilometers (0.93 miles) wide.
Researchers explain that, at the end of the last Ice Age, it was hidden from view by a layer of ice that measured about 400 meters (1,312 feet) in thickness.
Over the years, this layer of ice came to be merely 3-4 meters (10-13 feet) thick. Hence the fact that scientists now refer to this lake as an emerging subglacial one.
In a paper recently published in the journal Diversity, the British researchers explain that the ancient microbial remains they discovered in this lake were found in sediment samples collected from a depth of about 3.2 meters (10.5 feet) bellow the lake's bottom.
Besides these remains, the scientists have found evidence of microbial communities that still inhabit this frozen environment.
Their presence in the lake indicates that, as surprising as this may sound, life can not only exist, but also thrive in fairly harsh environments.
“This is the first time microbes have been identified living in the sediments of a subglacial Antarctic lake and indicates that life can exist and potentially thrive in environments we would consider too extreme,” researcher David Pearce at the University of Northumbria explains, as cited by Science News.
“The fact these organisms have survived in such a unique environment could mean they have developed in unique ways which could lead to exciting discoveries for us,” he adds.
Of the microbes found at the bottom of this lake, 23.8% were Actinobacteria, 21.6% were Proteobacteria, 20.2% were identified as Planctomycetes and 11.6% were labeled as Chloroflexi.
The rest (23%) remained unidentified, and scientists say that they might represent previously undocumented species.
“This is the early stage and we now need to do more work to further investigate these life forms,” David Pearce stresses.
The scientists hope that a better understanding of how life emerged and evolved in subglacial lakes such as this one will help shed new light on whether or not other planets might also house various lifeforms.