A team of scientists from Florida State University and Montana State University examined the sub-glacial waters of Antarctica and the Arctic ice island of Greenland.
According to Phys.org , they have discovered that these waters contain higher concentrations of life-sustaining elements than previously thought, suggesting it’s time to revisit geochemistry and evolution live on Earth.
Glacier in Greenland – (Photo: JON HAWKINGS).
For example, scientists expected to find less than 5 micrograms of dissolved iron per liter of water in these subglacial lakes. However, they detected more than 1,000 micrograms/liter! So is the concentration of many other trace elements. This directly affects the level of existence and sustaining life in this harsh and only dark world.
“These trace elements are like the vitamins we take every day. Only small amounts of these materials are needed as the foundation for the development of healthy ecosystems” – Associate Professor Robert Spencer, Earth, ocean and atmospheric sciences expert from Florida State University, said.
The aforementioned evidence was found directly through the core drilled more than 1km deep into Lake Mercer Subglacia , an underground lake more than 9km long, 15m deep, located in Antarctica. Some circumstantial evidence suggests that other lakes in Antarctica and Greenland are similar.
Speaking on EurekAlert , Dr. Jon Hawking, who is collaborating with both universities, said 10% of the Earth is currently covered by ice and those worlds are constantly changing due to the warming process. up globally. Complex geochemical processes continue and it is possible that underground lakes with interesting life forms will increase.
This is a particularly significant finding. Astronomers, especially NASA, have long hoped to find alien life forms in alien underground lakes, for example on Mars or Pluto, which have been identified as quite similar to lakes. Antarctic underground. This new discovery not only gives us the opportunity to approach life forms thought only on other planets, but also helps guide future space missions.
The study, just published in the scientific journal PNAS , also notes that the biggest difficulty is that accessing the underground worlds right here on Earth is also very difficult, because they are located very deep in the land. harshest.