Clathrate formation and the fate of noble and biologically useful gases in Lake Vostok, Antarctica

• Published in: Geophysical Research Letters
• Main Authors: McKay, C. P., Hand, K. P., Doran, P. T., Andersen, D. T., Priscu, J. C.
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: LSU Digital Commons 2003
• Subjects: Antarctic; East Antarctic Ice Sheet; Lake Vostok; Antarc*; Antarctica; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/geo_pubs/664; https://doi.org/10.1029/2003GL017490

Lake Vostok is a large lake located 4 km beneath the East Antarctic Ice Sheet that should be supersaturated with dissolved gases in equilibrium with clathrate present in the water column. Here we show that if the age of the lake is such that the lake water mass has been cycled over 30 times then the...