In a groundbreaking discovery, scientists have uncovered a thriving ecosystem deep within the oceanic crust, the dark volcanic rock that lies at the bottom of the sea. This vast new habitat, covering 60% of the Earth’s surface, is the largest on our planet.
The microbes living within this crust have been found to survive by utilizing hydrogen, generated through the interaction of water and iron-rich rock, to convert carbon dioxide into organic matter through a process known as chemosynthesis. This method of energy production is distinct from photosynthesis, which relies on sunlight.
The discovery of these microbes living in the oceanic crust is significant because it suggests that a major ecosystem on Earth may be fueled by chemical energy rather than sunlight. This would make it the first of its kind. The findings were published in the prestigious journal Science.
“This study confirms the existence of a deep-subsurface biosphere that is populated by anaerobic microorganisms,” says Kurt Konhauser, a geomicrobiologist at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada.
The discovery raises intriguing questions about the amount of living biomass in this subterranean ecosystem compared to that at the Earth’s surface. As the oceanic crust is vast, it is possible that the biomass within it could rival or even surpass that found on the surface.
This groundbreaking discovery has the potential to revolutionize our understanding of life on Earth and the possibilities for life beyond our planet.
Flashback to Dec 2006 and this stunning discovery:
In a captivating tale reminiscent of Jules Verne’s “Journey to the Center of the Earth,” recent discoveries in the deep biosphere have unveiled a hidden world thriving with life fueled by an unexpected source – radioactivity. This groundbreaking revelation comes from the depths of our planet, where scientists aboard the research vessel “Joides Resolution” uncovered a startling truth about life below the Earth’s surface.
Amidst our aspirations for lunar colonies, the exploration of Earth’s mysteries continues to astonish us. Through an Ocean Drilling Program, researchers delved into the unseen realms beneath the sea floor, revealing a staggering revelation: between 10 to 50% of Earth’s biomass resides deep underground. Living microorganisms, defying conventional wisdom, were discovered in cores extracted from depths of up to 400 meters below the ocean floor, ruling out contamination as the source of life.
The abundance of microorganisms found in sediment layers, reaching up to 100 million microorganisms/ml in shallower regions and still persisting at 1 million microorganisms/ml in ancient 35 million-year-old sediments, puzzled scientists. The enigma lay in the sustenance of life so far removed from direct contact with ocean water.
Drawing on cutting-edge technologies in biogeochemistry, molecular biology, and microbiology, an American-German research team unraveled this mystery. By analyzing a diverse array of samples from the seabed, they uncovered a groundbreaking model. This model elucidated how microorganisms thrive in these extreme conditions – sustained by natural radioactivity deep beneath the sea floor. The breakdown of potassium, thorium, and uranium isotopes generates radioactivity that provides energy for these microbial communities by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen.
This ingenious adaptation allows these deep-sea microorganisms to flourish independently from surface resources, challenging our understanding of life’s resilience and adaptability in Earth’s most remote realms. The revelation of this hidden ecosystem sheds light on the remarkable ways life persists and thrives in the most unexpected corners of our planet.
In my mind this supports the idea that microbes from an exploded planet now in pieces in outer space could survive a journey of millions of years inside icy comets where radioactivity (Aluminum, and/or longer lived Potassium, Thorium, Uranium) would provide energy.