A recent earthquake at the bottom of the world suggests that Antarctic ice might hide an active, heat-generating fault, reports Robin E. Bell of Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in Palisades, N.Y. The energy released at such a geologic boundary could power hot springs feeding into subsurface lakes, enabling microbial life to flourish miles beneath the top of the ice sheet, she speculates.
Log in
Subscribers, enter your e-mail address for full access to the Science News archives and digital editions.