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Name : Lake Vostok
Location : East Antarctica
Lake Vostok is located near Russia’s Vostok research station in Antarctica.
Coordinates:-77.45268382042562 , 106.23142584023033
Why it ’s unbelievable : The lake is one of the big on Earth , but it lies beneath several Swedish mile of ice .
Lake Vostokis a giant lake in Antarctica that is similar in size of it to North America ’s Lake Ontario . But unlike Lake Ontario , Lake Vostok sits beneath more than 2 mile ( 3 kilometer ) of nothingness - boast snow and ice .
Organisms in Lake Vostok may survive off chemicals in Antarctica’s bedrock, which researchers mapped in detail in 2013.
Once an enormous Earth’s surface lake , Lake Vostok became buriedat least 15 million years ago , with some estimate suggest it has been unceasingly handle for much long — 20 million year or more . As a termination of being cut off from light and the standard atmosphere for so long , the lake harbors a unique ecosystem of extremophiles — creatures that have evolve to flourish in extreme conditions .
Related : scientist peered into a secret Antarctic lake hidden beneath the ice — and uncover a never - before - seen ecosystem
Lake Vostok is about 150 international mile ( 240 km ) long and 30 mile ( 50 klick ) wide . It is the biggest of Antarctica’smore than 400 subglacial lake , which are scattered across the continent because low levels of geothermal rut melt the base of the ice-skating rink sheet .
The lake is located near Russia ’s Vostok research station , just about 800 Admiralty mile ( 1,300 km ) from the South Pole . Although scientist have occupied Vostok since 1957 , they had no idea the lake existed until the sixties , when a Russian geographer and pilot first noticed the categorical , comparatively smooth area of ice above it from the air .
In 1993 , research worker found the lake with planet - based microwave radar applied science capable of penetrating the Methedrine . And in 2012 , Vostok scientist finallysucceeded in a years - foresightful movement to drill down to the lakethrough the internal-combustion engine .
Lake Vostok is about 0.6 miles ( 1 km ) late at its south final stage and relatively shallow at its north and southwesterly corners . Researchers mapped the bottom of the lake and ground that the deep and shallow areas are separated by a ridge , which they think might be peppered with hydrothermal vent similar tothose in the Pacific Ocean .
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The lake ’s only source of water is the trash plane above it . The water temperature hovers around27 academic degree Fahrenheit ( minus 3 degrees Celsius ) , but it remain limpid thanks to the crushing imperativeness of the overlying shabu sheet , which lower the freezing compass point of the water .
Countless mintage of microbe inhabit the lake , include nautical lifeforms that suggest the water body was once connected to the ocean . Researchers taste a layer of rooted water call accumulation ice that sits on top of the lake and found it containsDNA from more than 3,500 organisms , including fungus kingdom and bacteria commonly see in the digestive tracts of Pisces .
Due to the lack of light blockingphotosynthesis , these organisms have evolved to banquet on minerals in the piddle and chemical substance produced in the basic principle . Researchers mean that further study them could provide cue about life on other planet and moons , include Jupiter ’s icy moon Europa .
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