Drill Close to Reaching 14-Million-Year-Old Antarctic Lake

Drill Close to Reaching 14-Million-Year-Old Antarctic Lake

www.wired.com

Lake Vostok, which has been sealed off from the world for 14 million years, is about to be penetrated by a Russian drill bit.

The lake, which lies 2.5 miles below the icy surface of Antarctica, is unique in that it’s been completely isolated from the other 150 subglacial lakes on the continent for such a long time. It’s also oligotropic, meaning that it’s supersaturated with oxygen: Levels of the element are 50 times higher than those found in most typical freshwater lakes.

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
www.popsci.com.au

Wow.. Amazing, I have read older threads here on ATS regarding Lake Vostok, but now things are really starting to heat up..

My imagination is working over time understanding what could possibly be inside this 10+ million year old biological time capsule.

New species of fish, crustaceans, marine grasses, giant species of them too I guess... 50x the oxygen density here on land could afford some really alien stuff to exist..

As the scientists say it's going to provide an evolutionary snap shot of what earth was like all those years ago, untainted by man.. and I just can't wait to see some of the first results.

People go on about exploring space and our neighboring planets, but what is the point when some of the most distant reaches of earth are still unexplored and unreferenced?

I will be keeping up with this story daily from now on until they break through to the Lake.



www.wired.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Bit more additional information for those who are interested

Researchers explore atmospheric history with giant insects

Researchers at Arizona State University have been conducting experiments to test how oxygen-enriched atmospheres affect evolution, creating giant dragonflies and tiny cockroaches in the process.

In fossil record, there's evidence of enormous insects with wingspans of up to 70 centimetres. The explanation usually given for such creatures is that the Earth's oxygen levels were considerably higher in the past. It's believed that at some points in history, oxygen accounted for as much as 31 percent of the atmosphere, compared to around 21 percent today. It's plunged as low as 12 percent at points, too.

LINK TO ARTICLE

reply to post by plexus

Great thread!
I've read about the pressure in the sphere is supposed to be pushing the ceiling of the dome upwards
This is what ATS used to be about until the *snip*xuals took over!
SnF!

Mods to delete my post in 3....2....1...

reply to post by plexus


Do you know how far away Neuschwambeland is supposed to be?
I recall this where the Nazis built their base.

Maybe we've finally discovered Rlyeh? Heck with 2012 coming perhaps the stars ARE right! Ia! Ia! Cthulhu Fhtagn!

Seriously though, this is wickedly cool. I can't wait to learn what we find. S&F!

Thanks for the reply, I've just realised there's an existing thread in Fragile Earth

Maybe mods can lock this so that people can direct to the conversation... I don't want to cause friction

LINK TO ORIGINAL THREAD

reply to post by Violater1


Further north I believe, I've also had interest in the Nazis in the snow too.. magnetic anomalies have been detected near the drilling site, so who knows..

They should bottle that water!

Originally posted by plexus
Thanks for the reply, I've just realised there's an existing thread in Fragile Earth

Maybe mods can lock this so that people can direct to the conversation... I don't want to cause friction

LINK TO ORIGINAL THREAD

As your thread is in Breaking Alternative News and the other is in Fragile Earth, both threads can continue discussing this topic.

Under these conditions alone are duplicate threads allowed.

So... carry on.

Originally posted by plexus



As the scientists say it's going to provide an evolutionary snap shot of what earth was like all those years ago, untainted by man.. and I just can't wait to see some of the first results.

"Untainted by man.." Not for long...

I can't help but wonder -- while inevitably we will "taint" whatever is down there, what are the risks that whatever is down there "taints" us worse?

reply to post by plexus


Hopefully they are taking appropriate steps to not contaminate the Lake. The regular drill uses kerosene as a solvent to lubricate the drill in such cold conditions, if I remember correctly. Supposedly the thermal lance will melt it's way down then freeze again above it, sealing the lake off.

reply to post by plexus


The Lost World Of Lake Vostok



A great documentary on the unique ancient lake.

reply to post by Yukitup


Absolutely, this untapped lake may have different elemental and particle structures that we may not be used to in our existence. There may be unheard of mineral compounds and other strange new compounds of metals and sulphurs and all kinds of things we've never heard of here. These might be valuable to someone one day, and then the mining companies will start making offers..

What if there was an uncapped source of natural gas or oil under the lake itself, millions of years worth of decomposition could provide a huge natural energy source..

I believe what will happen and what should happen, is it should be considered along the lines of an Inter-National Park or a Living Museum of some kind.. Imagine if we do discover new species, and we are able to one day visit them.. or perhaps bring a couple back for our own zoological societies..

Another fascinating thing to realize is that if you took our own human evolution and the time evolved man has spent time on earth, and compare that to the amount of time this lake has been sitting in absolute tranquility harboring the very building blocks of life itself and letting them intertwine into their own evolutionary scales.. compare the two, and it would be like a postage stamp (us) stuck to the very top of the empire state building

reply to post by UmbraSumus


Fantastic, gives me something visual to fixate on.. this whole thing has my imagination bubbling with excitement

I hope they get good untainted samples. Lots of good stuff coming from there hopefully.

Vostok...

Isn't that where the strange magnetic anomaly was discovered, deep UNDER lake Vostok? Anyone remember that? About 2 or 3 years ago, there were reports that a geo-imaging satellite found a magnetic anomaly way under the lake, and thought that it was either some sort of man-made structure that would have to date farther back than we have record for... or some country is violating the Antarctic Treaty with a deep underground facility.

Gonna have to look for sources on this one... it was one of those MSM stories that popped up one day, and was never talked about again just a few days later.


www.bibliotecapleyades.net...

www.enterprisemission.com...

greyfalcon.us...

www.abovetopsecret.com...

reply to post by DamaSan


Yep I remember the stories coming out of Russia too, weather it was geological or man made is still to be proven, but magnetometry evaluations cannot be ignored. Perhaps like i said, the lake is home to a huge untapped natural resource that we have yet to comprehend..

Definately invokes some kind of further research as far as i'm concerned.. I'll be spending some time looking in to this in the coming weeks and months.. Hopefully they get the core drilled before the end of the summer and no time is wasted, then we can come straight back next winter and get some answers.

reply to post by plexus


See if you can dig up the Russian links. That story has always been in the back of my mind ever since it was announced and then... media blackout.

If there really is a structure THAT far down under the ice, then it's either the oldest manmade object on Earth or something else that's REALLY not supposed to be there.

reply to post by plexus


there are probably a group of intelligent amphibious seal-like creatures down there. we'll prolly bust in on their olympics.