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Team led by MSU prof to drill into Antarctic ice

By The Associated Press

Story Created: Nov 6, 2009 at 5:42 AM MST

Story Updated: Nov 6, 2009 at 5:42 AM MST

BOZEMAN - Montana State University researchers are part of a team that plans to drill almost 3,000 feet into an Antarctic ice shelf over the next five years to study subglacial ecosystems.

Researchers from nine institutions, led by MSU ecology professor John Priscu, want to examine subglacial ecosystems that could hold organisms that have not been directly exposed to the atmosphere for 10 million years.

The expectation is that those sub-ice bugs" will offer new clues about the evolution of life on Earth. To get beneath the ice shelf, the team will use a hot water drill.

Priscu characterizes the $10 million endeavor as a risky science project with the chance of significant returns.

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