Ancient ecosystem discovered below Antarctic glacier
Ancient ecosystem discovered below Antarctic glacier
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Friday, 17, Apr 2009 01:10
Scientists have found an ancient ecosystem below an Antarctic glacier.
Research published in the journal Science describes how the ecosystem has lived without light or oxygen in a pool of brine trapped below Taylor Glacier in eastern Antarctica.
The ecosystem is said to contain a diversity of bacteria that thrive in cold, salty water loaded with iron and sulphur. Scientists claim they made the breakthrough discovery when they learned that the bacteria convert key elements on Earth into 'food'.
Research shows the bacteria cycle sulphur compounds to access iron in the bedrock.
The ecosystem, because it has been isolated for so long in extreme conditions, could explain how life might exist on other planets and serve as a model for how life can exist under ice, author John Priscu, from the Department of Land Resources and Environmental Sciences at Montana State University (MSU), said.
Jill Mikucki, lead author of the Science article and a former MSU graduate student, added that life below the glacier may help scientists answer questions about life on "Snowball Earth", the period when large ice sheets covered the Earth.
The ecosystem has the "potential to be a modern analogue to what geochemistry and biogeochemistry was like millions of years ago," she added.