ABSTRACT
Lake Vostok is the largest of nearly 400 subglacial lakes in Antarctica. It is 250 km long, 50 km wide, and is more than 1,100 m deep. The 4,000 m of glacial ice exerts approximately 350 atmospheres of pressure on the lake. As the glacier moves over the lake, lake water freezes (i.e., accretes) onto the bottom of the glacier, such that it forms an accretion ice layer more than 200 feet thick on the far side of the lake. Ice core sections have been analyzed, and they indicate a diverse set of mainly bacteria that are living in the lake. It includes some heat-loving organisms, indicating the presence of hydrothermal activity. There also are a large number of eukaryotes living in the lake, including fungi, crustaceans, hydras, clams, a number of protists, and possibly fish.
