I saw an interesting piece on the Science Channel last night. They've found a lake 4 km under a sheet of ice in Antarctica believed to be formed 30 million years ago. It's of particular interest because it would be one of the purest sites that hasn't been contaminated by modern bacteria and such. So if we could find an effective way to drill without contaminating the lake then we could get a glimpse of the lifeforms that may have lived 30 million years ago.
The problem with drilling is that the technology available today is susceptible to oil contamination and if we were to drill, the integrity of the lake would be compromised.
Another interesting fact brought up in the program is that the ice patterns in Antatcrica are very similar to, of all places, Europa. Yes, they believe information can be gleened from formations on Jupiters icy moon. Did anyone else see this last night? What implications could these events have for us?

I went home for lunch today and saw it on the Science Channel again. I guess they like to re-air shows periodically. Anyways, the 30 million years was stated by the female scientist. I forgot her name. Perhaps I am wrong but I believe in the program they said that they have already accidentally drilled into the lake. Not deep, but enough to notice a difference in the sample collected.

30 million years presumably relates to when Antarctic first moved over the S Pole thus allowing an ice sheet to form. So there's probably been ice somewhere in Antarctica for 30 million years, though whether anywhere has been under ice continuously for 30 million years is another matter.... :D

Seen this?
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=12311
NASA Researchers Find Antarctic Lake Water Will Fizz Like a Soda
nitrogenated and oXygenated eliXir....

thats one big soda pop...

scuse me.....
Do geologists know when the last time Antarctica was still connected to other landmass was?
As for the lake itself, it surely prooves that Antarctic landmass would have become seabed if the ice were not present....:D

If the lake were proved to be salty, would it mean that Earth had been covered by water for long? Or would it be that earth received 'extraterrestrial' water?