Dark oxygen collected from the sea floor
Something dark and metallic-like is pumping out large amounts of oxygen from the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, at depths where a lack of sunlight makes photosynthesis impossible, scientists have noticed.
The find has surprised scientists and the source remains a mystery. The oxygen might be generated by metal-rich mineral deposits, some sort of metallic substance or nodules, they claim.
To researchers’ surprise, they measured voltages of up to 0.95 volts across the surface of the nodules. It is possible that the nodules catalyse the splitting of water into oxygen and hydrogen, but more experiments are needed.
The scientists also say this new discovery could change everything about what we know about oxygen itself, and how life as we know it is created.
This challenges what we know about the emergence of life on Earth, researchers say: “When we first got this data, we thought the sensors were faulty, because every study ever done in the deep sea has only seen oxygen being consumed rather than produced,” study lead author Andrew Sweetman, a professor and leader of the seafloor ecology and biogeochemistry research group at the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS)
But when the instruments kept showing the same results, Sweetman and his colleagues knew they “were onto something ground-breaking and unthought-of,” he said.
So what does that mean for deep sea mining? Green Prophet has covered many stories and research to shed light on the problems with deep sea mining and what this could do to delicate, deep sea ecosystems.
Dr. Paul Johnston, from Greenpeace’s Science Unit, says, “This study shows that processes are going on in the deep sea and which are associated with these mineral nodules that we are only just becoming aware of. The ecological importance of this process as a source of oxygen in deep-sea environments is not really known but may be highly important.
“We should impose a moratorium on exploiting these systems because we still lack a comprehensive understanding not only of their biodiversity, but also of the complex ecological functions they support.”
Scientists are joining in the call to protect the deep seabed from mining as the International Seabed Authority in Jamaica this week to decide the future of the deep sea mining industry.
