Article Title: Deepest Life on Earth May Be Lurking 6 Miles Beneath Ocean Floor
Source: LiveScience
Date: 4-11-17
Link: https://www.livescience.com/58632-deepest-life-on-earth-possibly-found.html
Summary: This article the results of some research which looked into rocks spewed out of undersea volcanoes. The rocks are estimated to have come from a depth of ten thousand meter below the sea floor. In the rocks the researchers found chemical makers of microbes, such a complex carbon compounds. While, no living microbes were found it could indicate that microbial life might extend to new unexpected depths in the Earth.
Connection: This article reminds me of the principle of ubiquity of microbes which states that microbes are found everywhere. Finding microbe that far under the surface of the earth defiantly supports that theory.
Critical Analysis: I found the article very interesting as I didn’t think that there was much life that far below the surface of the Earth. However, it is worth noting that this research didn’t prove that the organic traces were from bacteria as the Earth’s crust does move and thus I could see other ways that organic matter could have gotten to those depths. Also I am wondering how they kept their samples from getting contaminated.
Question: If there are microbes at depths of ten thousand meters, what do they use as and energy, and carbon source? What sort of lifestyle do they have?
1 Comment for “Microbes Deep Down”
kveech2
says:I think that this is a super interesting discovery and if it is traces of where microbes once existed this could add to the search for microbes in space too because the researchers can start looking in different environments that they previously thought couldn’t support microbes. The microbes that would live in those vents could be mesophiles. They could get their energy from sulfur or methane as well as from photosynthesis from the light that is produced from chemical reactions from the thermal vents, these microbes would be carbon fixers.