Which lake is hidden under the Antarctic ice?

Our earth is made up of mysteries, today man has reached from the moon to the planet Mars, but many mysteries of the earth are still unresolved. There is such a great continent in the southern hemisphere of our Earth, whose nature matches that of Jupiter’s moon Europa. The name of that continent is Antarctica.

The continent of Antarctica is an unsolved mystery in itself. This is a continent whose 98% is covered with ice and the thickness of the ice is about 1.5 km but it is not surprising, the surprising thing is that under such a thick and such a large ice sheet, more than 150 lakes flows constantly and the name of the largest lake among them is Lake Vostoka.

In today’s article we will know which lake is hidden under the Antarctic ice? So, without further ado, let us get straight into the matter!

Hidden lakes under the thick ice of Antarctica

Antarctica’s lakes are very important in terms of understanding the existence of humans.it is very old in terms of age. It is believed that this ice layer is more than 1,50,00,000 years old. These ice covered lakes have been flowing for more than, 50,00,000 years & till today it is flowing. And they have not stopped flowing till today.

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During the 1970’s, scientists used radar and satellites to locate more than 150 freshwater lakes inside the great layers of ice. This cannot be difficult to understand because the core of the Earth is always filled with hot lava.

And the water in the Earth’s womb is always hot, so the presence of hot water under a layer of thick ice cannot be surprising in any way. But the ice being so thick can certainly be surprising.The largest lake in such a large area of ​​Antarctica is named Vostok Lake.

Vostok Lake

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Vostok Lake was traced back to 1990. Russian and British scientists together discovered Vostok Lake at a depth of more than 500 meters. The size of this lake is equal to the size of Lake Ontario.

Vostok Lake is around 230KM long and 50KM wide. This existed around the south pole of the Antarctica. It seems to be believed that the source of the water of this lake is the melted ice only. Scientists believes that the temperature of this water is around 27 degree Celsius due to the temperature of the core of the earth.

Ages of lakes under ice

If we talk about the age of the lakes flowing under the ice, then it is difficult to tell clearly, but it can be said that since the ice layer must have been there, at least from that time, these lakes will be flowing from the bottom of the ice layer.

But the age of layer of 1.6km thick ice is around 1 million years. Some lakes have been flowing under the ice for more than one and a half million years.

The name of a lake in West Antarctica is Lake Ellsworth, which is located about 3.2 kilometers below. It has been isolated from the surface of the ice for thousands of years.

Using satellites and radar, it was determined that the lake is about 18 kilometers long and can only be more than 50 meters deep.

The importance of Antarctica’s lakes

Antarctica is located on the southern hemisphere of our earth. And as we know that about 98% of it is covered with snow. For this reason, we can only guess from the water flowing under such a thick and such a big ice sheet that water can flow in this way in other planets also.

Could living organism able to be found there? Might yes! As we know that Jupiter’s moon Europa also has a similar thick ice sheet and if lava flows in its womb, then there can be chances of life on Europa planet as well.

Future prospects

In January 2008, the first step was taken for the discovery of such a Vostok lake. After this, work is going on in many UK universities regarding this. With this, Martin Segart, a scientist and teacher from Russia, is teaching in UK universities and on all these batons he is giving knowledge there.

Scientists only want to sample the water of the lake buried under the layers of these thick years and test them with their scientific eyes. The possibilities of which can raise suspicion of the conditions of other planets and the presence of water under the ice sheet there and may be possibilities of life there.

Some interesting facts about Antarctica

• Antarctica is a continent as well as a country. The total area of ​​it is 14 million square kilometres, it receives water for its ice from the Indian Ocean, Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Ocean.
• Despite having so much snow in this area, there are volcanic mountains present there.
• There are more than 150 fresh water lakes in the womb of Antarctica.
• Fresh water lakes continue to flow under the ice of Antarctica because the ice layer becomes hollow as the water warms slightly.
• If any organisms or fossils are found in the lakes flowing under Antarctica, then they can also give us an indication of life located on other planets in the same conditions.

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Conclusion

In today’s article, we got information about more than one and a half 150 fresh water lakes located on the continent of Antarctica. We learned how these lakes continue to flow under a layer about 1.6 km thick and how they have been flowing continuously for more than fifteen million years. We got information about which lake is hidden under the Antarctic ice? We hope you liked it.

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