Drill, Don't Kill: Lessons From Two Underground Lakes

sounds crazy

On a interesting and side note:
In 1929, a group of historians found an amazing map drawn on a gazelle skin.

Research showed that it was a genuine document drawn in 1513 by Piri Reis, a famous admiral of the Turkish fleet in the sixteenth century.

His passion was cartography. His high rank within the Turkish navy allowed him to have a privileged access to the Imperial Library of Constantinople.

The Turkish admiral admits in a series of notes on the map that he compiled and copied the data from a large number of source maps, some of which dated back to
the fourth century BC or earlier.
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The Controversy
The Piri Reis map shows the western coast of Africa, the eastern coast of South America, and the northern coast of Antarctica. The northern coastline of Antarctica is perfectly detailed. The most puzzling however is not so much how Piri Reis managed to draw such an accurate map of the Antarctic region 300 years before it was discovered, but that the map shows the coastline under the ice. Geological evidence confirms that the latest date Queen Maud Land could have been charted in an ice-free state is 4000 BC.
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http://www.world-mysteries.com/sar_1.htm

There's more to old pal Piri than you know... :D
And that 4000BC date isn't correct either.

rg-5,
Oppositional facts or links are helpful....

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See life in all its beautiful colors, and
from different perspectives too!

@Auroria "The northern coastline of Antarctica is perfectly detailed."

If coast line in the southern part of the map is meant to be Antarctica, it is attached to South America. Not exactly what I would call perfect. If by perfect you mean: does not resemble, then yes, perfectly detailed.

Actually, the southern land mass in the map is the coast of South America bent to the east so that it would fit the parchment.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Piri_Reis_map_interpretation.jpg

democedes,
An opinion is good, but when a person adds a link, it's like adding meat to the potatoes.
Nice response, thank you.

..........................................
See life in all its beautiful colors, and
from different perspectives too!

Maybe now this stupid thing will let me post, it rejected me like 5x even though I KNOW I put it the right CAPTCHA code... anywho...

Anyone remember Deep Horizon? Yeah, it was the little oil rig responsible for the Gulf disaster. When the lake breaks through it probably will continue to spew out water, it won't squirt out a little water that freezes in the borehole and thats it. The ice will probably keep exerting pressure, sinking into the lake (rather staying in a position of "floating" on top of it) and a giant sinkhole will form. The center of the sinkhole will be the weakest point, full of all kinds of fractures, and the lake may even begin pressing up through those cracks formed as the ice broke into large chunks. Of course, over time the lake will stop churning and the surface will refreeze, but not before creating a giant caldera-like structure.

My two cents...

@lawsonrw

thank goodness you are here on the internet, providing your vastly superior knowledge and expertise from the comfort of your armchair cosy in your living room! however would the scientific community have avoided such a catastrophe were it not for your invaluable input? so glad you posted your comment, which the professional establishment will no doubt take under advisement immediately. phew! crisis averted

good job you came across this article, or science may have been forever damaged by such a foolish error. you rule :)

[/sarcasm]

@roobs12345: down troll.. atta boy. He's just throwing in his two cents, same as you. Stop stroking your ego before you ejaculate on your monitor. lol..

@lawsonrw
Last I checked, ice floated.

and besides, density and therefore pressure decrease with temperature. If the water is under that much pressure, it would have already gone.

Look out! Nerd fight!

best comment yet!

I think they are being a bit too cautious. All that work just to look at sliver of ice? Poke a camera down there for 30 seconds!

Bayesian,

They can't see any microbial life with a camera poked down there for 30 seconds. They want the sample from the lake to study for any sign of life.