The discovery of Lake Vostok led scientists to ask many questions. How did the lake form? Does anything live in the lake? If so,
what lives in the lake? How could living things survive in this environment? What lies beneath 2.3 miles (3.7 km) of ice? What covers an area of roughly 5,400 square miles (13,985 sq. km)? What is around 30 million years old?
Subglacial Lake Vostok is a lake occupying a topographic hollow beneath the Antarctic Ice Sheet. Water occurs at high pressure beneath the Antarctic Ice Sheet and accumulates in topographic hollows. This hollow may have formed during pre-glacial or glacial times and is tectonically controlled. There were organisms known for living in salt water, fresh water, super-hot water and even in the guts and other body parts of tube worms, fish and other animals. There were low amounts of genetic material that appeared to come from animals such as a microscopic crustacean, a marine bivalve and a small sea anemone. Almost 4 km beneath the East-Antarctic ice sheet, Lake Vostok, a vast freshwater lake was discovered 1996 by using ice-penetrating radar and artificial seismic waves. Lake Vostok is the oldest, most pristine lake in the world and it never has been disturbed by humankind yet. It is one of more than 70 lakes, which have been identified under the Antarctic ice sheet. Scientists estimate Lake Vostok''s age at 35 million years.
