Untouched Subglacial Lakes Could Harbour Clues To Evolution Of Alien Life

Vast bodies of water more than 500 metres below the Arctic ice may host life forms that have evolved independently for 120,000 years.

Two isolated salt lakes that have been discovered beneath the ice in the Canadian Arctic may help us to understand how alien life could have potentially evolved on one of Jupiter’s moons, a team from the University of Alberta say.

After analysing radar data originally acquired by NASA to investigate the bedrock conditions beneath the ice cap, the team found two lakes located 550 to 750 metres below the Devon Ice Cap, one of the largest ice caps in the Canadian Arctic.

There are some 400 known subglacial lakes in the world, mostly scattered around Antarctica, but the Devon Ice Cap lakes are the first to be found in the Canadian Arctic and the first thought to contain salty water.