Lake Bonney (Antarctica)
Lake Bonney ( ) is a saline lake with permanent ice cover at the western end of Taylor Valley in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Victoria Land, Antarctica. It is long and up to wide. A narrow channel only wide (Lake Bonney at Narrows) separates the lake into East Lake Bonney () and West Lake Bonney (). To the north and south of the lake lie peaks that are over above sea level, and the Taylor Glacier is positioned to the west of the lake. It is deep and is perpetually trapped under of ice. It was first visited by the British National Antarctic Expedition of 1901-1904. It was named by the Robert Falcon Scott expedition of 1910-1913, for Thomas George Bonney, professor of geology at University College London, England from 1877 to 1901. Lake Bonney is one of the main lakes studied by the National Science Foundations, McMurdo Long Term Ecological Research site. Starting in 2007 NASA is funding an autonomous submersible robot called ENDURANCE to explore the water volume of the lake to study its shape and ecology. The robot is built by Stone Aerospace, who also developed the DEPTHX submersible. The Endurance Project is led by Peter Doran with Bill Stone and John Priscu among the co-investigators. Scientists have discovered an ancient ecosystem beneath the Taylor Glacier, next to Lake Bonney. This ecosystem survives by transforming sulfur and iron compounds for growth. The work is seen as a stage in developing an autonomous submersible robot that could explore the ocean on Jupiter's moon Europa. The green algae Chlamydomonas priscuii is endemic to this lake. Tributaries Lake Bonney is fed by a number of meltwater streams: Bartlette Creek Bohner Stream Doran Stream (feeding Priscu Stream) Lawson Creek Lizotte Creek Lyons Creek Mason Creek Priscu Stream (the longest, ) Red River Santa Fe Stream Sharp Creek Vincent Creek See also Blood Falls, an outflow of the tip of the Taylor Glacier containing an iron oxide–tainted plume of melting salty water flowing onto the ice-covered surface of Lake Bonney Lake Washburn (Antarctica), a precursor lake Further reading Johanna Laybourn-Parry, Jemma L. Wadham, Antarctic Lakes, P 120 Peter T. Doran, W. Berry Lyons, Diane M. McKnight, editors Life in Antarctic Deserts and other Cold Dry Environments: Astrobiological Analogs, P 164 Obryk, M. K., P. T. Doran, and J. C. Priscu (2014), The permanent ice cover of Lake Bonney, Antarctica: The influence of thickness and sediment distribution on photosynthetically available radiation and chlorophyll‐a distribution in the underlying water column , J. Geophys. Res. Biogeosci., 119, 1879–1891, doi: 10.1002/2014JG002672 Chao Tang, Michael T. Madigan, and Brian Lanoil, Bacterial and Archaeal Diversity in Sediments of West Lake Bonney, McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica, Appl Environ Microbiol. 2013 Feb; 79(3): 1034–1038. doi: 10.1128/AEM.02336-12 H.A. DUGAN, M.K. OBRYK, P.T. DORAN, Lake ice ablation rates from permanently ice-covered Antarctic lakes , Journal of Glaciology, Vol. 59, No. 215, 2013 doi:10.3189/2013JoG12J080, P 491 Gideon M. Henderson, Brenda L. Hall, Andrew Smith, Laura F. Robinson, Control on (234U/ 238U) in