Scientists discover first super salty subglacial lakes in Canadian Arctic

[Judi Lynn]

Super salty water beneath ice could serve as a terrestrial analogue for a habitat for life on other planets
Date:
April 11, 2018
Source:
University of Alberta
Summary:
An analysis of radar data led scientists to an unexpected discovery of two lakes located beneath 550 to 750 meters of ice underneath the Devon Ice Cap, one of the largest ice caps in the Canadian Arctic. They are thought to be the first isolated hypersaline subglacial lakes in the world.


An analysis of radar data led scientists to an unexpected discovery of two lakes located beneath 550 to 750 metres of ice underneath the Devon Ice Cap, one of the largest ice caps in the Canadian Arctic. They are thought to be the first isolated hypersaline subglacial lakes in the world.

"We weren't looking for subglacial lakes. The ice is frozen to the ground underneath that part of the Devon Ice Cap, so we didn't expect to find liquid water," said Anja Rutishauser, PhD student at the University of Alberta, who made the discovery while studying airborne radar data acquired by NASA and The University of Texas Institute for Geophysics (UTIG) to describe the bedrock conditions underneath the Devon Ice Cap. Ice penetrating radar sounding measurements are based on electromagnetic waves that are sent through the ice and reflected back at contrasts in the subsurface materials, essentially allowing scientists to see through the ice.

"We saw these radar signatures telling us there's water, but we thought it was impossible that there could be liquid water underneath this ice, where it is below -10C."

While there are more than 400 known subglacial lakes in the world, concentrated primarily in Antarctica with a few in Greenland, these are the first found in the Canadian Arctic. And unlike all the others -- which are believed to contain freshwater -- these two appear to consist of hypersaline water. Rutishauser explained that the source of the salinity comes from salt-bearing geologic outcrops underneath the ice.

More:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180411174153.htm

[pansypoo53219]

1. maybe like at the south pole. the salt is part of what gets the streams moving water around.