Can Antarctic lake sediments unravel mysteries?

Panaji, Jan 28: Antarctic lake sediments could provide vital clues that may help unravel the mysteries of the icy continent's evolving climates and their implications on global ecology and environment, say Polar scientists.

For the first time, a team of scientists, attached with the prestigious Silver Jubilee Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctic Expedition, have recently undertaken a pilot study to unlock the climate secrets.

''We have collected as many as 39 core samples of the sediments from the beds of six of the 100 lakes found in Schirmacher Oasis in East Antarctica,'' Dr Rajesh Asthana, coordinating the multi-disciplinary field study at the National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCAOR), Vasco-da-Gama, Goa, told UNI