Deep groundwater and potential subsurface habitats beneath an Antarctic dry valley
The occurrence of groundwater in Antarctica, particularly in the ice-free regions and along the coastal margins is poorly understood. Here we use an airborne transient electromagnetic (AEM) sensor to produce extensive imagery of resistivity beneath Taylor Valley. Regional-scale zones of low subsurfa...
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:4423215 2023-05-15T13:46:02+02:00 Deep groundwater and potential subsurface habitats beneath an Antarctic dry valley Mikucki, J. A. Auken, E. Tulaczyk, S. Virginia, R. A. Schamper, C. Sørensen, K. I. Doran, P. T. Dugan, H. Foley, N. 2015-04-28 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4423215/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25919365 https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms7831 en eng Nature Pub. Group http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4423215/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25919365 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms7831 Copyright © 2015, Nature Publishing Group, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited. All Rights Reserved. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ CC-BY Article Text 2015 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms7831 2015-05-24T00:03:11Z The occurrence of groundwater in Antarctica, particularly in the ice-free regions and along the coastal margins is poorly understood. Here we use an airborne transient electromagnetic (AEM) sensor to produce extensive imagery of resistivity beneath Taylor Valley. Regional-scale zones of low subsurface resistivity were detected that are inconsistent with the high resistivity of glacier ice or dry permafrost in this region. We interpret these results as an indication that liquid, with sufficiently high solute content, exists at temperatures well below freezing and considered within the range suitable for microbial life. These inferred brines are widespread within permafrost and extend below glaciers and lakes. One system emanates from below Taylor Glacier into Lake Bonney and a second system connects the ocean with the eastern 18 km of the valley. A connection between these two basins was not detected to the depth limitation of the AEM survey (∼350 m). Text Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice permafrost Taylor Glacier PubMed Central (PMC) Antarctic Bonney ENVELOPE(162.417,162.417,-77.717,-77.717) Lake Bonney ENVELOPE(-25.588,-25.588,-80.361,-80.361) Taylor Glacier ENVELOPE(162.167,162.167,-77.733,-77.733) Taylor Valley ENVELOPE(163.000,163.000,-77.617,-77.617) Nature Communications 6 1 |
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Article Mikucki, J. A. Auken, E. Tulaczyk, S. Virginia, R. A. Schamper, C. Sørensen, K. I. Doran, P. T. Dugan, H. Foley, N. Deep groundwater and potential subsurface habitats beneath an Antarctic dry valley |
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Article |
description |
The occurrence of groundwater in Antarctica, particularly in the ice-free regions and along the coastal margins is poorly understood. Here we use an airborne transient electromagnetic (AEM) sensor to produce extensive imagery of resistivity beneath Taylor Valley. Regional-scale zones of low subsurface resistivity were detected that are inconsistent with the high resistivity of glacier ice or dry permafrost in this region. We interpret these results as an indication that liquid, with sufficiently high solute content, exists at temperatures well below freezing and considered within the range suitable for microbial life. These inferred brines are widespread within permafrost and extend below glaciers and lakes. One system emanates from below Taylor Glacier into Lake Bonney and a second system connects the ocean with the eastern 18 km of the valley. A connection between these two basins was not detected to the depth limitation of the AEM survey (∼350 m). |
format |
Text |
author |
Mikucki, J. A. Auken, E. Tulaczyk, S. Virginia, R. A. Schamper, C. Sørensen, K. I. Doran, P. T. Dugan, H. Foley, N. |
author_facet |
Mikucki, J. A. Auken, E. Tulaczyk, S. Virginia, R. A. Schamper, C. Sørensen, K. I. Doran, P. T. Dugan, H. Foley, N. |
author_sort |
Mikucki, J. A. |
title |
Deep groundwater and potential subsurface habitats beneath an Antarctic dry valley |
title_short |
Deep groundwater and potential subsurface habitats beneath an Antarctic dry valley |
title_full |
Deep groundwater and potential subsurface habitats beneath an Antarctic dry valley |
title_fullStr |
Deep groundwater and potential subsurface habitats beneath an Antarctic dry valley |
title_full_unstemmed |
Deep groundwater and potential subsurface habitats beneath an Antarctic dry valley |
title_sort |
deep groundwater and potential subsurface habitats beneath an antarctic dry valley |
publisher |
Nature Pub. Group |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4423215/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25919365 https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms7831 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(162.417,162.417,-77.717,-77.717) ENVELOPE(-25.588,-25.588,-80.361,-80.361) ENVELOPE(162.167,162.167,-77.733,-77.733) ENVELOPE(163.000,163.000,-77.617,-77.617) |
geographic |
Antarctic Bonney Lake Bonney Taylor Glacier Taylor Valley |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Bonney Lake Bonney Taylor Glacier Taylor Valley |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice permafrost Taylor Glacier |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice permafrost Taylor Glacier |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4423215/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25919365 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms7831 |
op_rights |
Copyright © 2015, Nature Publishing Group, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited. All Rights Reserved. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms7831 |
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Nature Communications |
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6 |
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