# Russian Scientists Bore Into Ancient Antarctic Lake
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-scientists-bore-into-ancient-antarctic-lake/612202
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [February 8, 2012, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-scientists-bore-into-ancient-antarctic-lake/612202 "2012-02-08T16:20:23Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2012, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-scientists-bore-into-ancient-antarctic-lake/612202/1 "2012-02-08T16:20:23Z")
MOSCOW — Russian scientists said on Wednesday that they had pierced through more than three kilometers of Antarctic ice and reached the waters of a subglacial lake that has been sealed off for millions of years.
Clean samples of the water from Lake Vostok, named after the scientific research station located on the ice sheet above it, will not be taken until the next Antarctic summer, in December 2012, officials said, as the initial water released from the lake was contaminated by drilling fluid.
**Scientists believe the lake could contain a wide variety of evolutionary secrets, including evidence of previously unknown, _prehistoric life forms_.**
Too bad we will have to wait for 11 months.☹
What animals do you think we will find?
[NYtimes](http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/09/world/europe/russian-scientists-bore-into-ancient-antarctic-lake.html?_r=1&hp) story.
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### Author:  [@DarrenS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarrenS)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2012, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-scientists-bore-into-ancient-antarctic-lake/612202/2 "2012-02-08T16:25:08Z")
How long before Evian has a new competitor?
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### Author:  [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2012, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-scientists-bore-into-ancient-antarctic-lake/612202/3 "2012-02-08T17:12:16Z")
It is going to be the piss of giant crocs.😛
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2012, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-scientists-bore-into-ancient-antarctic-lake/612202/4 "2012-02-08T17:13:40Z")
We’re doomed. They are just going to release The Thing. Or awaken one of the Elder Gods.
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2012, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-scientists-bore-into-ancient-antarctic-lake/612202/5 "2012-02-08T18:38:22Z")
> [@silenus](#):
>
> We’re doomed. They are just going to release The Thing. Or awaken one of the Elder Gods.
Or the Blob.
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### Author:  [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2012, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-scientists-bore-into-ancient-antarctic-lake/612202/6 "2012-02-08T18:44:04Z")
Very, tiny whales.
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### Author:  [@3trew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3trew)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2012, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-scientists-bore-into-ancient-antarctic-lake/612202/7 "2012-02-08T19:03:03Z")
I predicted a Lovecraft reference within the first three comments. Ah, SDMB, you never disappoint.
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### Author:  [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2012, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-scientists-bore-into-ancient-antarctic-lake/612202/8 "2012-02-08T19:25:31Z")
> [@3trew](#):
>
> I predicted a Lovecraft reference within the first three comments. Ah, SDMB, you never disappoint.
Aw, c’mon, how could you not? The first news story I read about these guys reported that they were missing, after drilling more than 10,000 feet through Antarctic ice to uncover a 15-million-year-old lake. If that’s not the plot of a Call of Cthulhu one-shot, I don’t know what is.
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### Author:  [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2012, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-scientists-bore-into-ancient-antarctic-lake/612202/9 "2012-02-08T19:28:56Z")
Initially reading this, I assumed the lake was frozen. It’s liquid!
> [@](#):
>
> The water in Vostok stays liquid because of the pressure and the warmth of the earth below it.
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### Author:  [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2012, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-scientists-bore-into-ancient-antarctic-lake/612202/10 "2012-02-08T20:18:32Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#):
>
> Initially reading this, I assumed the lake was frozen. It’s liquid!
Makes you wonder if there could not be something like the [black smoker](http://www.ceoe.udel.edu/kiosk/blacksmoker.html)ecology down there.
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### Author:  [@Anonymous\_Coward](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anonymous_Coward)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2012, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-scientists-bore-into-ancient-antarctic-lake/612202/11 "2012-02-08T20:46:55Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#):
>
> Aw, c’mon, how could you not? The first news story I read about these guys reported that they were missing, after drilling more than 10,000 feet through Antarctic ice to uncover a 15-million-year-old lake. If that’s not the plot of a Call of Cthulhu one-shot, I don’t know what is.
I also would’ve accepted a Balrog joke.
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### Author:  [@sevenwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sevenwood)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2012, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-scientists-bore-into-ancient-antarctic-lake/612202/12 "2012-02-08T21:11:44Z")
> [@indian](#):
>
> What animals do you think we will find?
Release the [Kraken](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kraken)!
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### Author:  [@Pantani](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantani)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2012, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-scientists-bore-into-ancient-antarctic-lake/612202/13 "2012-02-10T01:33:32Z")
There are some concerns that by doing this the Russians have irreveriably contaminated the lake forever, distroying a unique environment.
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2012, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-scientists-bore-into-ancient-antarctic-lake/612202/14 "2012-02-10T02:05:26Z")
Arbitrary “In Soviet Union, lake drills you!” joke.
But I digress.
Carry on.