Study Finds 1.5-Million-Year-Old Marine Microbes Active Beneath Taylor Glacier
Updated
Updated · ScienceAlert · Aug 3
Study Finds 1.5-Million-Year-Old Marine Microbes Active Beneath Taylor Glacier
3 articles · Updated · ScienceAlert · Aug 3
Summary
A Nature Geoscience study found a distinct, transcriptionally active community of eukaryotic marine microbes in the brine system feeding Antarctica's Blood Falls.
Using 167 samples from Blood Falls, nearby sediments, ice, mud and surrounding environments, Angela Zoumplis's team analyzed environmental RNA to separate living organisms from residual genetic traces.
The microbes clustered around Blood Falls rather than across the Dry Valleys, and genetic differences from modern marine relatives point to long isolation beneath Taylor Glacier.
Researchers say the hypersaline brine—liquid despite subzero conditions—likely acted as a refuge for descendants of ancient seawater communities trapped at least 1.5 million years ago.
If confirmed, Blood Falls preserves living remnants of an ecosystem older than the modern Antarctic ice sheet, offering a rare window into past climate change and polar resilience.