A preliminary comparison of two perennially ice-covered lakes in Antarctica: Analogs of past Martian lacustrine environments

• Published in: Advances in Space Research
• Main Authors: Andersen, D. T., Doran, P., Bolshiyanov, D., Rice, J., Galchenko, V., Cherych, N., Wharton, R. A., McKay, C. P., Meyer, M., Garshnek, V.
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: LSU Scholarly Repository 1995
• Subjects: Antarc*; Antarctic; Antarctica; McMurdo Dry Valleys; Victoria Land
• Online Access: https://repository.lsu.edu/geo_pubs/693; https://doi.org/10.1016/S0273-1177(99)80084-2

Perennially ice-covered lakes in the Antarctic have been suggested as analogs to lakes which may have existed on the surface of Mars 3.5 billion years ago. During the 1991-1992 austral summer, a joint Russian/American research effort was directed at studies of ice-covered lakes in the Bunger Hills Oasis, Antarctica (66° S, 100° E). The primary objective of the expedition was to investigate this ice-free area for features analogous to ancient martian environments that may have been capable of supporting life and to compare the ice-covered lakes of the Bunger Hills with those in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of southern Victoria Land (77° S, 166°E) as part of the continuing studies of Antarctic-Mars analogs. © 1994.