Hello, Mud!

Mud and sediment from Subglacial Lake Whillans makes its first supraglacial appearance in January 2013. Researchers retrieved the mud from half a mile below, hauling it up through a borehole in the ice. Reed Scherer (right), a marine micropaleontologist from Northern Illinois University, speeds the samples to an on-site lab. Several rounds of mud and water were collected from the lake for chemical, physical and biological analysis.

JT Thomas / DISCOVER