Possible signs of life found ten kilometers below seafloor

[Binary_Bark]

An international team of researchers has found possible evidence of life ten kilometers below the sea floor in the Mariana Trench. In their paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team describes samples of serpentine they collected from hydrothermal vents and the material they found in it that offers evidence of life living farther below the surface than was thought.
The Mariana Trench is the deepest part of any of the world's oceans. Its lowest point is 10,994 meters below sea level. It is located southwest of Japan, and has been an area of scrutiny ever since the development of underwater pilotless craft called Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs). Prior research has shown that the trench formed due to the Pacific tectonic plate sliding beneath the Philippines plate, making it a subduction zone. In this new effort, the researchers used an ROV to extract 46 samples of serpentine from the ocean floor near the South Chamorro mud volcano, which they brought back to their lab for study.

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-04-life-ten-kilometers-seafloor.html#jCp

 

[The Trutherizer]

If there's anything that ocean vents showed us it is that life can flourish anywhere with a source of energy and liquid water - Even trace amounts. I fully expect there to be a lot of life deep below the surface of the earth. Especially around volcanic areas, and not all volcanic activity makes it to the surface. Its one of my main objections to oil and gas exploration - Whole ecosystems might have already been eradicated. Of course the deeper you go, the less likely it is for substantial spaces to occur naturally since the crust becomes plastic and slowly fills up any spaces - A phenomenon seen in the deepest mines here in SA already.

I know the practical considerations in the matter, but morally it would be better if we left such potentially unique ecosystems in a good state with the only interaction in the form of scientific investigation.

 

[Arthur]

It's been known for about two decades that there is more biomass in the crust of the earth than all other biomass (life forms) on the surface and in the oceans put together. The crust is teeming with vast volumes of life, mostly bacterial.

Another thing: It's standard geoscience in Russia that petroleum is not a fossil fuel but the product of bacterial biomass in the earth's crust, ie it's a renewable resource.

 

[The Trutherizer]

It's been known for about two decades that there is more biomass in the crust of the earth than all other biomass (life forms) on the surface and in the oceans put together. The crust is teeming with vast volumes of life, mostly bacterial.

Another thing: It's standard geoscience in Russia that petroleum is not a fossil fuel but the product of bacterial biomass in the earth's crust, ie it's a renewable resource.

Russia being a country that over-relies on fossil fuel exploitation... It's a bit too convenient.

Microbial life might play a role early in the process that ultimately leads to oil (verdict still out on that). What is known is that oil takes a loong time to form and requires certain geological conditions like very high heat and pressure over extended periods of time. The process is inefficient and so only a tiny bit of the biomass floating around in the ocean at any given time will ultimately become oil. And it takes millions of years. Most oil we use today is about 100million years old - That can be determined from testing. There are also geo-chemical markers which can tell a bit about the type of biomass that turned into oil, but not a whole lot. We also know that certain microbes can consume oil. In the type of environment where we find oil it would be the richest source of energy a microbe could come by, by a very, very, very long shot (think tomahawk missile). So its doubtful it would be discarded as a waste product. For that to make sense the microbes would need access to an even greater source of energy. That's entropy for you...

So renewable over geological time frames for sure I guess.

It is likely no different from the standard origin of life syllabus at a creationist school starting about 8000-6000BC

 

[Binary_Bark]

Life has been found in the deepest mines here in South-Africa. It is a magnificent and beautiful find. Just think of the repercussions of this. There may be other life in our solar system. It might be only microbial but it can be there!

 

[The Trutherizer]

Life has been found in the deepest mines here in South-Africa. It is a magnificent and beautiful find. Just think of the repercussions of this. There may be other life in our solar system. It might be only microbial but it can be there!

So true. There are two things I really want to see in my life. Cape Town without car exhaust pollution. Humanity after it found out its not alone.

 

[C4Cat]

It's been known for about two decades that there is more biomass in the crust of the earth than all other biomass (life forms) on the surface and in the oceans put together. The crust is teeming with vast volumes of life, mostly bacterial.

Another thing: It's standard geoscience in Russia that petroleum is not a fossil fuel but the product of bacterial biomass in the earth's crust, ie it's a renewable resource.

Any sources for this information?

 

[Arthur]

Interestingly, Sweden's Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm, part of the Swedish Research Council, lends considerable support to theories about the abiotic (inorganic) origin of petroleum gas and oil - long propounded by Russian and Ukrainian petroleum geologists.

See this report in ScienceDaily in 2009.

Summary:

Researchers in Sweden have managed to prove that fossils from animals and plants are not necessary for crude oil and natural gas to be generated. The findings are revolutionary since this means, on the one hand, that it will be much easier to find these sources of energy and, on the other hand, that they can be found all over the globe.

---

Since forever the standard theory was that methane was biological in origin - until better astronomical instruments and probes discovered methane on Jupiter. Later it was found that Saturn's moon Titan is awash with the stuff. More recently researchers have confirmed the mysterious presence of methane on Mars.

Perhaps there's more to this theory than we think...

The Russians say we mistake them for fossil fuels because most (but not all) petroleum has microscopic traces of ancient organic fossils that mixed in with the abiotic oil in the earth's crust, ie the abiotic oil seeped into areas also occupied by fossil organisms thereby 'contaminating' the natural abiotic geological oil with fossils.

I'm not a chemist or geologist, so this might all be loopy nonsense. I'm not for a minute suggesting I buy this oil-from-microbes theory, or the abiotic theory, mind you.

On the other hand, it's a very big world out there and we're literally only scratching the surface. And we've been quite wrong about big things before, so who really knows...

Another Big (Western) Oil Conspiracy anyone?

 

[Arthur]

@C4Cat:

I haven't been near a PC since you asked for references to the interesting geological and biomass points I posted, so still on a phone.

The National Science Foundation in the USA runs a project called C-DEBI (Center for Dark Energy Biosphere Investigations) which researches biomass in the earth's crust and the mysterious mechanisms by which it obtains energy.

Over the past ten years or so they've made significant progress in more accurately quantifying the various biomass systems on the planet.

A decade ago, the consensus estimate was that crust-inhabiting bacteria made up about a third of the planet's total biomass. But an important research report released then (can't find it now while on phone) established that the stuff in the crust is at least ten times greater than previously thought.

We're in the midst of a scientific revolution in our understanding of the crust. There's very much more going on there than we until recently thought. These bacteria are clearly finding their energy from somewhere other than the sun.

Tantalizing, exciting stuff.

 

[Swa]

And the hollow earth keeps calling...