Microbes examined from Antarctic ice could provide biologists with information regarding alien life forms.
University of Tennessee (UT) researchers participated in a study that examined water, ice and sediments from a shallow lake deep under the Antarctic ice sheets. This was the first major study to reliably examine waters taken from waters beneath a glacier in the Antarctic.
Microbes discovered in this buried aquatic environment showed life can exist in dark, cold environments, similar to those seen on other worlds, such as Europa, one of the largest moons of Jupiter.
Lake Whillans lies more than 2,600 feet under the glacial surface in Antarctic. It was discovered just a decade ago, beneath the lower section of the Whillans Ice Stream (WIS) in West Antarctica. This is part of an extensive drainage network on the frozen continent.
Over 3,900 varieties of bacteria and archea were found in the subglacial lake. Archea are microorganisms without a cellular nucleus or organelles.
Samples of the water and microbes were collected in late January 2013, as part of the Whillans Ice Stream Subglacial Access Research Drilling (WISSARD) program. The water collected by the team had not been exposed to the atmosphere for several thousand years.
"Because Antarctica is basically a microbial continent, exploring below its thick ice sheet can help us understand how life has evolved to survive in cold darkness," Jill Mikucki of the University of Tennessee, and leader of the study that discovered the hardy lifeforms, said.
Previous samples of water taken from the lake may have been contaminated with drilling fluid, manufactured from hydrocarbon products. Mikucki and her team overcame this problem using hot water in place of conventional fluid.
"Given the prevalence of subglacial water in Antarctica, our data... lead[s] us to believe that aquatic microbial systems are common features of the subsurface environment that exists beneath the...Antarctic Ice Sheet," said the authors of an article announcing the results of the study.
The subglacial lake connects to the Southern Ocean, surrounding the continent. Mikucki believes microbes in the isolated cache of water could affect the ecosystem of the larger body.
Lake Whillans, as well as the Whillans Ice Stream, were named after Dr. Ian Whillans, a glaciologist at Ohio State University.
Discovery and analysis of microbes in the waters of the subglacial Lake Whillans was detailed in the journal Nature.
