lake vostok was one of the biggest geographical discoveries in the 2nd half of the 20th century scientists had long suspected that there was a lake the size of europe subglacial lake vostok contains water that is millions of years old. but to reach it you have to drill through the so-called atmospheric ice formed by the snow that has fallen in antarctica for millennia. one theory is that the lake formed because the ice sheet above it melted under the pressure of its own weight another is that the one you can't always existed even before antarctica froze over and that the ice sheets simply sealed it in. in a different attitude state is that the said in the can to do with a bit of. south of the of the cuckoo for the birth of the british it's on earth but i'm pleased to be able as i showed the burden of the social and delicious to of the . late 20th century saw the 1st attempts to reach the lake by drilling through the kilometers of ice that concealed this unique body of water. and has done so as to look at that it was here to look and sure it's in there would be near that this should keep it