“`html
This page was generated automatically; to view the article in its original context, you can follow the link below:
https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/17/science/dark-oxygen-research/index.html
and if you wish to delete this article from our website, please reach out to us
Subscribe to CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Delve into the universe through news on intriguing discoveries, scientific breakthroughs, and more.
CNN
—
A shocking revelation made public in July indicated that metallic minerals were seemingly generating oxygen on the seabed of the Pacific Ocean, where light cannot reach, resulting in a scientific sensation.
Preliminary investigations indicated that nodules the size of potatoes, abundant in metals, primarily located 4,000 meters (13,100 feet) deep in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, emitted an electrical charge, causing seawater to be divided into oxygen and hydrogen through electrolysis. This extraordinary natural occurrence disputes the notion that oxygen can solely be produced by sunlight via photosynthesis.
Andrew Sweetman, a lecturer at the Scottish Association for Marine Science in the UK and the discoverer’s lead researcher, is initiating a three-year exploration to further examine the generation of “dark” oxygen. Sweetman and his team are utilizing custom-built rigs equipped with sensors capable of being deployed to depths of 11,000 meters (36,089 feet). The Nippon Foundation is backing the $2.7 million (2.2 million-pound) research initiative, which was publicly disclosed on Friday.
Discovering dark oxygen has highlighted how little is understood about the deep sea, and specifically the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, also known as CCZ. This area is under investigation for the deep-sea extraction of rare metals contained within the rock nodules, which are created over millions of years and are crucial for emerging and eco-friendly technologies.
“Our discovery of dark oxygen represented a pivotal shift in our comprehension of the deep sea and potentially life on Earth; however, it raised more inquiries than resolutions,” declared Sweetman, who leads his institution’s seafloor ecology and biogeochemistry division, in a news statement. “This new research will allow us to investigate some of these scientific queries.”
Sweetman mentioned that the primary aim of the new initiative was to ascertain whether the production of dark oxygen was replicated in other regions of the CCZ where the nodules can be discovered and subsequently unravel precisely how the oxygen was formed.
Gaining a deeper understanding of the phenomenon could also assist space scientists in the search for life beyond our planet, he noted.
Producing oxygen is challenging without the consistent energy supplied by sunlight; nevertheless, other researchers have also identified unexpected oxygen molecules in isolated, light-lacking locations. Sweetman suggested that dark oxygen production may be a broader phenomenon that has been neglected.
Emil Ruff, a microbiologist at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, identified oxygen in freshwater samples deep beneath the Canadian prairie in Alberta, with depths ranging from tens to hundreds of meters, a finding he and his collaborators from the University of Calgary and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution published in a study in June 2023. In certain examples, the dark oxygen had been isolated from the atmosphere above ground for over 40,000 years.
If oxygen is not perpetually replenished in an environment (by greenery and flora, for instance), it would eventually vanish.
“After 40,000 years or 30,000 years (isolated from surface activities), there’s no genuine reason to believe
“““html
“It’s surprising that there should be any oxygen remaining. Since oxygen is such an enticing electron acceptor, it typically either undergoes chemical oxidation or microbial oxidation,” stated Ruff. “So how did it end up there?”
Similar to Sweetman, Ruff initially suspected that atmospheric oxygen had tainted his samples, which were collected from 14 groundwater aquifers. Considering the samples’ age, any oxygen would have chemically reacted with other elements long ago and vanished.
After diligently conducting experiments in both the lab and field, Ruff eventually found that microorganisms in the water were generating oxygen. The microbes had seemingly developed a rare yet clever method that enabled them to create molecules without light.
Furthermore, Ruff discovered that the volume of oxygen produced was sufficient to support other oxygen-reliant microbial life within the groundwater.
“Nature continues to astonish us,” he remarked. “There are countless instances where individuals have declared, ‘Oh, that’s impossible,’ only to find out later that it isn’t.”
To delve deeper into dark oxygen, Ruff and his team journeyed to a 3-kilometer-deep (9,500-foot-deep) mine in South Africa in August to collect water samples that had been encased in rock for 1.2 billion years.
Scientists were already aware that the water in the mine contained oxygen molecules, yet the formation process remains unclear. While Ruff and his colleagues continue analyzing the samples they collected, they have formulated two hypotheses regarding the potential production of oxygen molecules, he mentioned.
The location is mined for gold and uranium, a radioactive element. Radiolysis, the disintegration of water molecules due to radioactivity, represents one potential method of oxygen production absent sunlight. Alternatively, the generation of oxygen could involve microorganisms through processes akin to those Ruff identified in Canada’s groundwater.
Sweetman stated on Friday that the new initiative would also aim to ascertain whether any microbial reactions contributed to dark oxygen generation on the ocean floor. Specifically, the project will examine how hydrogen is released during the oxygen production from metallic nodules and whether hydrogen served as a power source for microbial communities detected in certain areas of the deep ocean.
“We haven’t fully understood the mechanism yet, and determining that will take considerable time,” he expressed.
Ruff indicated he hopes to collaborate with Sweetman and other researchers engaged in dark oxygen studies to comprehend how the chemical signature of the oxygen generated through seawater electrolysis varies from that created by microorganisms or radiolysis.
Dark oxygen and the quest for extraterrestrial existence
NASA officials are keenly interested in the dark oxygen production research because it could enhance scientific insight into how life might be supported on other celestial bodies without the necessity of direct sunlight, according to Sweetman.
The space agency intends to conduct experiments to ascertain the energy required for potentially producing oxygen under the higher pressures present on Enceladus and Europa, the icy moons of Saturn and Jupiter, respectively, he further elaborated. These moons are among the candidates for exploring the potential for life.
“`
Deep-sea extraction firms are seeking to extract the cobalt, nickel, copper, lithium, and manganese found in the nodules for application in solar panels, electric vehicle batteries, and other environmentally friendly technologies. Certain companies have contested Sweetman’s findings.
Detractors argue that deep-sea mining could irreparably harm the unspoiled underwater ecosystem and that it might interfere with the carbon storage in the ocean, exacerbating the climate emergency.
The Metals Co. stated it had submitted a counterargument to Nature Geoscience, the journal that published the initial study. According to the company, the submission was in the process of peer review but has not yet been published.
Sweetman acknowledged he was aware of the negative feedback and intended to respond “via peer-reviewed channels.”
“We are entirely convinced that this is a genuine process occurring at the ocean floor,” he remarked.
Sweetman further noted that it was wise to refrain from exploiting seabed resources until the ecosystem was more comprehensively understood.
Amy Gartman, a research oceanographer and head of the global marine minerals project at the US Geological Survey’s Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center in Santa Cruz, California, stated that the USGS has not detected any electrical activity in ferromanganese nodules studied thus far. She was not involved in either Sweetman’s or Ruff’s studies.
“Researchers are presently attempting to replicate the phenomena reported by Sweetman and others,” she noted. “Scientific inquiry is a process, and it may take some time before a definitive conclusion is achieved.”
This page was generated programmatically; to read the article in its original form, you can visit the link below:
https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/17/science/dark-oxygen-research/index.html
and if you would like to remove this article from our site, please get in touch with us
