Reviewing the origin of subglacial Lake Vostok and its sensitivity to ice sheet changes
The history of Lake Vostok, the huge East Antarctic subglacial lake, is critical to the unique biota expected in this extreme environment. One theory is that the lake existed prior to the mid-Miocene glaciation of the continent at around 15 million years ago, survived the subsequent period of ice gr...
Published in: | Progress in Physical Geography: Earth and Environment |
---|---|
Main Author: | |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
SAGE Publications
2005
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1191/0309133305pp441ra http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1191/0309133305pp441ra |
id |
crsagepubl:10.1191/0309133305pp441ra |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
crsagepubl:10.1191/0309133305pp441ra 2023-05-15T14:12:21+02:00 Reviewing the origin of subglacial Lake Vostok and its sensitivity to ice sheet changes Siegert, Martin J. 2005 http://dx.doi.org/10.1191/0309133305pp441ra http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1191/0309133305pp441ra en eng SAGE Publications http://journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license Progress in Physical Geography: Earth and Environment volume 29, issue 2, page 156-170 ISSN 0309-1333 1477-0296 General Earth and Planetary Sciences Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous) Geography, Planning and Development journal-article 2005 crsagepubl https://doi.org/10.1191/0309133305pp441ra 2022-04-14T04:37:03Z The history of Lake Vostok, the huge East Antarctic subglacial lake, is critical to the unique biota expected in this extreme environment. One theory is that the lake existed prior to the mid-Miocene glaciation of the continent at around 15 million years ago, survived the subsequent period of ice growth intact, and then remained relatively stable beneath its thick ice cover to the present day. The alternative is that the lake was formed by subglacial water flow into an existing and/or glacially eroded trough after the ice sheet reached its present configuration. Here, the onset of persistent ice cover in Antarctica is reviewed and a simple model for continental ice growth discussed. This information is used to argue against the preglacial origin of subglacial lakes. Lake Vostok is large because ice flows essentially perpendicular to the trough’s long axis, permitting the slopes of the ice surface and the ice-water interface to be low. During the onset of glaciation ice flow across Lake Vostok would have been more akin to flow across an ice marginal trough such as the Astrolabe Subglacial Basin, which holds the thickest ice in Antarctica: 4776 m where the bed is over 2 km below the sea level. Hence, regardless of whether Lake Vostok was a lake prior to glaciation, its trough is likely to have been occupied by grounded ice during the period of ice growth. Although the lake is stable today, its size and extent will be affected by ice sheet changes that occur over glacial-interglacial cycles. Such changes are reviewed and the potential consequences for the lake’s volume are discussed. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Sheet SAGE Publications (via Crossref) Antarctic Lake Vostok ENVELOPE(106.000,106.000,-77.500,-77.500) Astrolabe ENVELOPE(140.000,140.000,-66.733,-66.733) Astrolabe Subglacial Basin ENVELOPE(136.000,136.000,-70.000,-70.000) Progress in Physical Geography: Earth and Environment 29 2 156 170 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
SAGE Publications (via Crossref) |
op_collection_id |
crsagepubl |
language |
English |
topic |
General Earth and Planetary Sciences Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous) Geography, Planning and Development |
spellingShingle |
General Earth and Planetary Sciences Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous) Geography, Planning and Development Siegert, Martin J. Reviewing the origin of subglacial Lake Vostok and its sensitivity to ice sheet changes |
topic_facet |
General Earth and Planetary Sciences Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous) Geography, Planning and Development |
description |
The history of Lake Vostok, the huge East Antarctic subglacial lake, is critical to the unique biota expected in this extreme environment. One theory is that the lake existed prior to the mid-Miocene glaciation of the continent at around 15 million years ago, survived the subsequent period of ice growth intact, and then remained relatively stable beneath its thick ice cover to the present day. The alternative is that the lake was formed by subglacial water flow into an existing and/or glacially eroded trough after the ice sheet reached its present configuration. Here, the onset of persistent ice cover in Antarctica is reviewed and a simple model for continental ice growth discussed. This information is used to argue against the preglacial origin of subglacial lakes. Lake Vostok is large because ice flows essentially perpendicular to the trough’s long axis, permitting the slopes of the ice surface and the ice-water interface to be low. During the onset of glaciation ice flow across Lake Vostok would have been more akin to flow across an ice marginal trough such as the Astrolabe Subglacial Basin, which holds the thickest ice in Antarctica: 4776 m where the bed is over 2 km below the sea level. Hence, regardless of whether Lake Vostok was a lake prior to glaciation, its trough is likely to have been occupied by grounded ice during the period of ice growth. Although the lake is stable today, its size and extent will be affected by ice sheet changes that occur over glacial-interglacial cycles. Such changes are reviewed and the potential consequences for the lake’s volume are discussed. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Siegert, Martin J. |
author_facet |
Siegert, Martin J. |
author_sort |
Siegert, Martin J. |
title |
Reviewing the origin of subglacial Lake Vostok and its sensitivity to ice sheet changes |
title_short |
Reviewing the origin of subglacial Lake Vostok and its sensitivity to ice sheet changes |
title_full |
Reviewing the origin of subglacial Lake Vostok and its sensitivity to ice sheet changes |
title_fullStr |
Reviewing the origin of subglacial Lake Vostok and its sensitivity to ice sheet changes |
title_full_unstemmed |
Reviewing the origin of subglacial Lake Vostok and its sensitivity to ice sheet changes |
title_sort |
reviewing the origin of subglacial lake vostok and its sensitivity to ice sheet changes |
publisher |
SAGE Publications |
publishDate |
2005 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1191/0309133305pp441ra http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1191/0309133305pp441ra |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(106.000,106.000,-77.500,-77.500) ENVELOPE(140.000,140.000,-66.733,-66.733) ENVELOPE(136.000,136.000,-70.000,-70.000) |
geographic |
Antarctic Lake Vostok Astrolabe Astrolabe Subglacial Basin |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Lake Vostok Astrolabe Astrolabe Subglacial Basin |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Sheet |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Sheet |
op_source |
Progress in Physical Geography: Earth and Environment volume 29, issue 2, page 156-170 ISSN 0309-1333 1477-0296 |
op_rights |
http://journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1191/0309133305pp441ra |
container_title |
Progress in Physical Geography: Earth and Environment |
container_volume |
29 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
156 |
op_container_end_page |
170 |
_version_ |
1766284647844544512 |