Russia Antarctic lake drilling meets concern from scientists

Kerosene, which the Russians used as antifreeze to prevent the borehole from closing up in the extremely cold depths of the icesheet, was a potential contamination risk for samples and for the pristine lake itself, they said.

Professor Martin Siegert, head of the school of geosciences at the University of Edinburgh, said these concerns marred “a milestone ... a major achievement” by Russia in drilling through to Lake Vostok.

But, he added in a phone interview, “It's very difficult for them to convince (others) that their experiment is going to be clean, when you have essentially 2 miles (3.5 kilometers) of kerosene to cross before you get to the lake surface.”

The lake, lying at a depth of 3,768 m (12,246 feet), has lain untouched for possibly a million years, he said.

Sub-glacial lakes are extreme environments. The hope is that samples will show whether microbial life could exist in water suspected to lie beneath the frozen surface of Mars, the Saturnian moon of Enceladus and Jupiter's satellite, Europa.

But Siegert cautioned that only recovering water from the top of the Lake Vostok would give no indication about the “water column,” meaning the enormous depth of the lake.

Nor would it say anything about the sediment on its bottom, which could hold vital clues.

And kerosene contamination could skew the samples, he feared. In the last stretch of drilling, the Russians used a more environmentally friendly antifreeze, freon.

“I don't think there's going to be widespread contamination of the lake. But it's difficult for them to convince that the experiment is going to be clean — and not just clean, but ultra-sterile — with the current technique they are using.”

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