Researchers using a magnetic airborne imaging system have found, what they describe as, a vast netork of briny liquid groundwater beneath one of the driest, coldest places on Earth. In addition to shedding new light on Antarctic ecosystems and the long term impacts of past climate change, the findings could hold out hope for the possibility of microscopic life on Mars.
On Earth, as the saying goes, “where there is water, there is life.” This has held true so far regardless of where the water was found. It has held true in 205 degree Fahrenheit hot springs, under intesne pressure in the deepest parts of the worlds oceans and in areas with such high radiation that it would be lethal to most organisms. There are even living things in areas where there is only sometimes water, lying dormant in the desert waiting for the rains to reappear.
The cold, briny water deep beneath Antarctica does not appear to be an exception to the rule.
Using the SkyTEM system, researchers mapped subterranean lakes and other Antarctic features which have previously been unaccessible. SkyTEM involves a helicopter with an electromagnetic sensor which creates a magnetic field. Scientists use this field to map subsurface features at depths up to 1,000 feet.
The survey revealed an interconnected series of lakes beneath the surface which, researchers believe, formed during the last period of dramatic global climate change.
“These unfrozen materials appear to be relics of past surface ecosystems and our findings provide compelling evidence that they now provide deep subsurface habitats for microbial life despite extreme environmental conditions. These new below-ground visualization technologies can also provide insight on glacial dynamics and how Antarctica responds to climate change,” says Jill Mikucki in a statement.
Mikucki is an assistant professor at University of Tennessee Knoxville and lead author of a new paper which appears in the journal Nature Communications.
The researchers found that the briny aquifers extend at least 7.5 miles inland from the coast in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, which is the largest ice free area in Antarctica. Researchers suspect that that the brines could come from the evaporation or freezing of an ancient lake or ocean deposits.
This is the first time that subsurface Antarctic lakes have been shown to be interconnected which is important in preserving ecosystems. If, for example, a section of the lake should run dry, parts of the ecosystem are retained in other areas and can be reintroduced when water returns.
“This project is studying the past and present climate to, in part, understand how climate change in the future will affect biodiversity and ecosystem processes. This fantastic new view beneath the surface will help us sort out competing ideas about how the McMurdo Dry Valleys have changed with time and how this history influences what we see today,” said study co-author Ross Virginia, a Dartmouth Professor and director of the Institute of Arctic Studies.
The discoveries could also provide valuable information to scientists who are looking for signs of microbial life on Mars. Many regions on the surface of Mars are similar to the Dry Valleys of Antarctica, this is especially true during the Antarctic summer.
Recent research suggests that briny water may even form on the surface of Mars at night near the equator, which provides hope that some briny subsurface waterways still exist. If life ever got started on Mars those waterways could still retain some sort of microbial ecosystem.
The Antarctic findings should be of particular interest to NASA’s newly formed NExSS initiative which brings together scientists, universities and institutions from across the United States to take a multidisciplinary approach to the search for extraterrestrial life.
