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The lake is massive. Thousands of gallons of freon would barely register as a contaminant. Moreover, the pressure of the water would tend to push up through the
by jordanb 16y ago
The lake is massive. Thousands of gallons of freon would barely register as a contaminant. Moreover, the pressure of the water would tend to push up through the borehole (although Freon is slightly denser than water so some will likely seep down through the water column).
The real issue isn't potential chemical contaminants, but biological contamination. It's thought that the lake has been cut off from the rest of earth's biosphere for millennia. It's likely a biological time-capsule, but breaching the seal could expose it to modern life that could take over.
- rdtsc 16y ago> Moreover, the pressure of the water would tend to push up through the borehole That's the plan actually! The water would rush up and then freeze sealing the opening and keeping the ecosphere uncontaminated. It is not the freon that would be the problem but the bacteria that they would introduce in the lake. Now hopefully they have some contingency plan for bacteria contaminating our side of the ecosphere ;-)