Frozen Land O' Lakes  31 January 2006 (All day)  M. Studinger
Lost lakes. Two new lakes found under an Antarctic ice sheet
rival Lake Vostok (pictured) in size.  A new survey of eastern
Antarctica has revealed a surprising find: two lakes buried
beneath a 4-kilometer-thick ice sheet that rival the famous Lake
Vostok in size. The lakes may hold exotic life, and their
position along ancient fault lines could shed light on how a
nearby mountain range formed.  Earth scientists have so far
spied about 145 subglacial lakes in Antarctica. Sandwiched
between the ice above and bedrock below, the lakes stay liquid
due to a combination of geothermal heat and the crushing
pressure of the ice sheet. Lake Vostok, by far the largest of
these lakes, is well-mapped, and a Russian team is now drilling
through its ice cap in hopes of finding life inside (Science, 28
October 2005, p. 611). But scientists know little about most of
the region's lakes, spotted only from sparse radar surveys.  A
team led by geologist Robin Bell and