Ancient lake bed discovered deep beneath Greenland ice sheet

ISLAMABAD   –  Scientists have detected what they say are the sediments of a huge ancient lake bed sealed more than a mile under the ice of northwest Greenland – the first-ever discovery of such a sub-glacial feature anywhere in the world. Apparently formed at a time when the area was ice-free but now completely frozen in, the lake bed may be hundreds of thousands or millions of years old, and contain unique fossil and chemical traces of past climates and life. Scientists consider such data vital to understanding what the Greenland ice sheet may do in coming years as climate warms, and thus the site makes a tantalizing target for drilling. A paper describing the discovery is in press at the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters. https://www.facebook.com/v2.9/plugins/quote.php?app_id=106170627023&channel=https%3A%2F%2Fstaticxx.facebook.com%2Fx%2Fconnect%2Fxd_arbiter%2F%3Fversion%3D46%23cb%3Df2c356c7dee3208%26domain%3Dnation.com.pk%26origin%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fnation.com.pk%252Ff3c8adaee9c2144%26relation%3Dparent.parent&container_width=779&href=https%3A%2F%2Fnation.com.pk%2F13-Nov-2020%2Fancient-lake-bed-discovered-deep-beneath-greenland-ice-sheet&locale=en_US&sdk=joey

“This could be an important repository of information, in a landscape that right now is totally concealed and inaccessible,” said Guy Paxman, a postdoctoral researcher at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and lead author of the report. 

“We’re working to try and understand how the Greenland ice sheet has behaved in the past. It’s important if we want to understand how it will behave in future decades.” The ice sheet, which has been melting at an accelerating pace in recent years, contains enough water to raise global sea levels by about 24 feet.