Lake Vostok is a large (10,000km2), presumably fresh water body located beneath four km of ice at 77oS105oE in East Antarctica. The lake is
approximately 250km long and 50km wide, with depths ranging from 500-10m. The overlying ice provides a continuous paleoclimatic record of 400,000
years, although the lake may have been isolated for a much longer time. Because of the long isolation of this lake, it is believed that the water
inside Lake Vostok could contain new lifeforms, and unique geochemical processes. For five years, scientists in Russia and the United States have
sought to probe Vostok to discover the secrets lying inside this pristine body of water.
Here's a link with some good info:
www.ldeo.columbia.edu...
Just imagine what could be found in that lake. Studies have shown that it could have been sealed off from EVERYTHING from 400,000 years to 1,000,000
years! No sunlight, no oxygen, no pollutants in that amount of time. Does anyone else find this intriguing?
