A lake has been found in Greenland that could date back to ancient times.

Researchers came across the remains of a huge lake from ancient times in Greenland. The lake is located several meters below the ice sheet in the northwestern part of Greenland. It is assumed to be several thousand if not millions of years old.

Extremely rare ‘Fossil Lake Bed’

The newly discovered huge “fossil bed of the lake” is a phenomenon that has never been identified until now in this cold part of the world. We know that the huge ice sheet in Greenland has many surprises beneath it as it is rapidly losing mass. In 2019, scientists reported the presence of 50 subglacial lakes under the ice sheet. These lakes are bodies of liquid water that was once ice, stuck between the bedrock below and the ice sheet above.

The lake that has now been found, however, is completely different from these subglacial lakes. It is an ancient lake basin, stretched for several meters, dry and now filled with sedimentary infill. The infill consists of loose rock measuring up to 1.2 km thick and then wrapped in another 1.8 km of ice. During the formation of the lake, the researchers predicted that the area had no ice and the basin would support a huge lake that stretched over an area of ​​nearly 7100 sq km. It is nearly the same size as the total area of ​​the US states of Delaware and Rhode Island.

The lake would hold about 580 cu. km of water and came from a minimum of 18 ancient streams. These streams once existed on the northern side of the lake bed. We do not yet know how ancient this lake is, but we can find more information about it by analyzing the samples of loose rock present within its basin. It can act as a huge time capsule of ancient sediments that has been preserved for several years. It can help us simulate the environment Greenland had several years ago.

Loose rocks can reveal vital data on the ice sheet

Chief glacial researcher and geophysicist Guy Paxman of Columbia University says, “It could be an important reservoir of data in an area that is currently completely covered and inaccessible. If we somehow get samples of those sediments in the lake basin, they could reveal information about the presence or absence of ice. “The huge lake bed is called” Camp Century Basin. “It received its name from a historic research base. nearby that was discovered by observations from NASA’s Operation IceBridge mission.

The team believes the lake’s formation occurred in warmer periods when the bedrock shifted due to the presence of a fault line below it that now lies dormant. Another alternative explanation is glacial erosions which may have caused the basin to form over a period of time. In any case, the team firmly believes that the ancient lake basin holds a vital sedimentary record. If we somehow manage to reach the depths of the ice to sample and analyze it, we may be able to find it if the lake was ice-free or covered with ice. It can also help reveal past climatic and environmental conditions in the particular region.

Paxman says: “We are trying to find out how the Greenland ice sheet behaved in the past era. It’s crucial if we want to know how it will behave in the near future. ”The research results are published in Science letters of the earth and planets.