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Environment

Hot methane seeps could support life beneath Antarctica’s ice sheet

Microbial communities feeding on geothermal methane seeps beneath the Antarctic ice sheet could resemble life-supporting environments on frozen worlds in our solar system and beyond

By James Dinneen

18 April 2025

Collecting rock samples in Antarctica

Researchers collecting rock samples in Antarctica in the 1960s

Polar Rock Repository

Microbes living beneath Antarctica’s ice sheet may survive on methane generated by geothermal heat rising from deep below Earth’s surface. The discovery could have implications for assessing the potential for life to survive on icy worlds beyond Earth.

“These could be hotspots for microbes that are adapted to live in these areas,” says at Brown University in Rhode Island.

We already know that there is methane beneath Antarctica’s ice sheet. Other…

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