We were all taught that Antarctica was a landmass covered in ice and was solid to the core. However, a recent study showed that beneath the icy surface of this frozen continent are lakes, rivers and "moulins" that bring water from the surface to deep mysterious caverns below. whether manmade or a natural phenomenon, these water features could predict the end of Antarctica as we know it.

According to The Washington Post, East Antarctica was supposed to be totally different. This is a remote part of the continent and is very cold even during the summer. There could be marginal ice melt during the summer season but the new study revealed that there has been significant melting as evidenced by the discovery of these englacial lakes and rivers.

Jan Lenaerts, a glaciologist, and his team from the Utrecht University in the Netherlands studied the effects of climate change on top of the Roi Baudouin ice shelf located in East Antarctica. The researchers were investigating a 2-mile wide crater in the shelf which was thought to be caused by a meteorite but as they looked closer it was totally different.

An icy lake bed 10-foot deep was at the shelf with rivers and moulins were discovered. They drilled through the icy shelf and saw englacial lakes in between the ice shelf and its base. All these findings reveal that the ice shelf was not completely solid at all. It was hollow with numerous large pockets of weakness which makes the ice vulnerable to collapsing.

If these formations continue to increase rapidly it could rip the ice shelves apart to take more icebergs into the ocean. More icebergs melting could significantly raise sea levels as well.

Meanwhile, Metro also reported a similar discovery in August and calls it "very bad news indeed." The report said that a total of 8,000 beautiful blue lakes have appeared from 2000 to 2013 and these are signs that the ice sheet is collapsing and the continent is doomed.

The report also mentioned that the same situation is happening in Greenland. Ice sheets are rapidly disintegrating with a trillion of tons of ice melting from 2011 to 2014.

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