Interest in brines in extreme and cold environments has recently increased after they have been
found on Mars. Those brines can be potential new subsurface habitats for peculiar ecosystems. In
the McMurdo Dry Valleys of the Antarctic, the best analogue for Mars conditions, only a few cases of
brines have been identified in some perennially frozen lakes and in one case in an underground aquifer.
Here, we present the occurrence of pressurized brines in a shallow perennially ice-covered lake south
of 70°S in an ice-free area of Victoria Land, Antarctica. For the first time, we also imaged, by means of
ground penetrating radar data, the existence of a pingo-like-feature (PLF) formed by the extrusion of
brines, which has also been confirmed by borehole evidence. Those brines are fed by an underground
talik external to the lake basin, enhancing the possibility of unexploited ecosystems that could find an
analogue in Martian environments.
