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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
World
Eva Corlett in Wellington

‘Hidden world’ of marine life discovered in Antarctic ‘river’ under ice

New Zealand scientists drilling through Antarctic ice discovered an underwater ecosystem 500m down
New Zealand scientists drilling through Antarctic ice discovered an underwater ecosystem 500 metres down. Photograph: NIWA / Craig Stevens

Beneath a vast Antarctic ice shelf, in a cathedral-like cavern hundreds of metres high, are swarms of little shrimp-like creatures in a newly discovered underwater ecosystem that, until recently, had remained an ice-locked secret.

A team of scientists from New Zealand discovered the ecosystem 500 metres below the ice in a suspected estuary, hundreds of kilometres from the edge of the Ross Ice Shelf.

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