Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1947-09-10
Stars, Men and Atoms
Gases in Antarctic Prove
to Be Saltwater Creeks
Discovery Furnishes New Picture of
Earth Emerging From Ice Age
By Thomas X. Henry

The tabled Antarctic GASES, discovered BY
the Navy expedition last winter of the Knox
snd Princess Ranghild coasts Of the Antarctic
continent, are saltwater creeks-backwashes
OF the Antarctic Ocean.
This somewhat prosaic anticlimax to what
seemed the most colorful discovery Of the
xpedition-described at the time as 200
square-mils ice-fres area Of blue and green
lakes at an elevation Of 400 feet above sea
level-has become apparent from q chemical
analysis Of the water Just received ct the
Navy photographic ONCE
1t Is salt water and, very definitely, sea
water There is an unmistakable difference
between salt water from the ocean and from
inland lakes, such as the Dead Sea or Great
Salt Lake The 20o-foot elevation reported
must certainly have been In error. Such a
mistake is easy to understand when the din
cultes Of accurate altitude measurements are
considered. The lakes must be at sea level
just on the edge Of the continental coast.
Creeks Are Like Marylands.
At the same time the finding gives q new
picture of one Of the mechanisms by which
the earth emerges from an ice age. These are
shallow creeks, somewhat like those extending
out of Chesapeake Bay into the Maryland
coast near Annapolis. Their bottoms are black
rocks. During the long Antarctic summer this
rock absorbs a large amount of solar radia-
tion. even through the ice Of early spring.
This heat Is slowly reradiated. All the ice
melts over a considerable area
The red islands reported by Navy aviators
who landed on the largest of the lakes are
supposedly due to great rockfalls from nearby
hills into the shallow sluggish waters. Sea-
ward the water Is deeper and the sunlight does
not penetrate to the bottom through the Ice
Hence the ice sheet over them is perpetual and
appears to separate them from the rim Of
open water which surrounds most Of the
Antarctic continent.
Presumably much the same phenomenon oc.
CURED along the coasts of North America to-,
ward the end of the last ice age. ~
Lakes Contain Algae.
The existence Of life In these "lakes"-count-
less billions of blue. red and green one-celled
plants which give their characteristic colors to
the waters-is considered the first step in the
re-establshment of life in the rear of q re-
treating glacier. These algae are among the
simplest and most primeval Of living things
As the warning-up process continues they
presumably will become food for higher Or
ganisms.
On the other side of the Antarctic continent
off the southern coast of the Weddell Sea, g.
German expedition in the winter of 1899 found
several similar "oases"-undoubtedly due to
the same phenomenon. None, however, ap-
preached the size OF the ice-free area found
off the Knox coast by 1t. G. e. Bunger Of
the Navy expeditions western group last
winter. Bunger was able to land ON the largest
of the so-called lakes and found the water
fairly warm so that ne could drag his hands
through it without discomfort. This. 1t Is ex-
planned, would be expected due 10 the heat
radiation from the black bottom. Both the
Knox and Ranghild coasts have low elevations.
constituting breaks In the rim Of mountains
surrounding most Of the Antarctic continent.
Other large, tce-free areas are considered
highly probable.