Trim the material, but essentially, yes.

Consideration from a Jovian: Metallic hydrogen. Refer to dimension stone here on Terra.

I'd be especially intrigued by the mineral composition of the water. 4 megayears of pressures could yield some very interesting stuff.

Thermophiles exist deeper than 4km, no?

Energy + liquid. Happens enough times in an inorganic biosphere, a numeric sequence triggers. Fibonacci patterns are easy enough to track, especially in botany.

Atoms are countable. interactions between atoms and subatomic blah blah, internal hyperexpansion.

whatev.

Anyone else hear that the trapped air contained in the ice apparently would have increased the oxygen levels in the water to amounts so high that not even bacteria could there? Seems to be a decent chance that it is completely sterile as a result.

As for the mineral composition of the water that could be pretty interesting as well. Are the chance of finding larger organisms very remote? Have not heard much on that

Not in 4 megayears. Maybe 40-50 megayears, sure.

Yeah, oxygen is corrosive obviously. That's why the antioxidant fad. Like cars rust, so do bodies. Similar entropic processes. There are solutions obviously.

why would that be the case? esp if there happens to be life.

Too cold for biological life. Where's the energy source, what would they feed on? So that's not really a concern.

Consider the temperature range of the universe.

I am suspicious of any statement of the form "too _____ for life".

With respect to this particular case it is most certainly not too cold for life — we know this because the water is liquid. (Geothermal heat renders the lake much warmer than the surface ice.)

The energy source problem is more serious. But not too many decades ago many would have said that there is no energy source at the bottom of deep oceanic canyons, save occasional infusions of organic material from above. And then we found the sulfur vents and the rich fauna they fed.

So there may be no life, fine, but counting on its absence is imprudent.

Meh, water's overrated.

In fact, they've found life in ice cores that are around that deep. If microbes can survive in the ice down there, they can probably survive in the water; on reflection, I'll be stunned if there is no life found in the lake.

We've found life that survives fine at around –15 C, and at around +120 C. There are microbes living in both ice and rocks several kilometers down. Some are adapted to acid that would kill most species, some to alkalinity that would. Just about every naturally-occurring environment on earth has been found to contain something alive.

Do not bet against life.

How is this water not frozen? Is it like those super-distilled, super-cold, air-bubble free containers of water that instantly freezes once you jostle it?

If so, what's to stop this lake from instantly freezing?

Yes, I'm an idiot.

don't think its supercooled...it's not frozen because of the immense pressure it's under from the 2.5 miles of ice (freezing point of water decreases as pressure increases) on top of it, because heat from the earth's core keeps it relatively warm and it's insulated from the surface temp by the ice sheet or a combo of those factors

Didn't know about the pressure/freezing temp thing. Thanks!

atak,

Just as it pertains to timescales of development of complex life. It's possible for sure, it'd just take longer. Molecular speeds are reduced at lower temperatures.

If thermophiles exist, then it so follows that there is potential on the other end of the temperature scale.

Anthropic principle isn't biological, it is very much an expression of energy rather. Felines and canines don't have the same perceptual scale within EM that we do, etc.

There isn’t just "potential" that they exist — they do. We have found them. Not yet in Lake Vostok, because we haven't yet been looking, but in many places including ice cores in that very area. There simply is life down to at least –15 C, right near there.

Let me know when life is found near 0K.

I'll be impressed then.