Mariana Trench: Deepest ocean 'teems with microbes'

[klr]

Now we know where DSI is hiding out.

The deepest place in the ocean is teeming with microscopic life, a study suggests.

An international team of scientists found that the very bottom of the Mariana Trench, which lies almost 11km (7 miles) down in the Pacific Ocean, had high levels of microbial activity.

The research is published in the journal Nature Geoscience.

The underwater canyon was once thought to be too hostile an environment for life to exist.

But this study adds to a growing body of evidence that a range of creatures can cope with the near-freezing temperatures, immense pressures and complete darkness.

Dr Robert Turnewitsch, one of the authors of the paper from the Scottish Association for Marine Science, said: "The deepest parts of the deep sea are certainly not dead zones."

Carbon sink

In 2010, the scientists sent an unmanned submersible down into the vast underwater canyon, where it collected samples of the murky sediment that cakes the sea floor.

An analysis of the levels of oxygen in the sample revealed the presence of a large number of microbes.

Dr Turnewitsch explained: "These microbes, they respire as we do. And this oxygen consumption is an indirect measurement of the activity of the community."

Surprisingly, these primitive, single-celled organisms were twice as active at the bottom of the trench than they were at a nearby 6km-deep (four miles) site.

...

continued here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21806406

[Gawdzilla Sama]

If the planet gets hit by a comet and the surface is sterilized this kind of place will start the whole thing over again.

[Blind groper]

There are bacteria deep in the Earth's crust also. More than a kilometer down.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg2 ... crust.html

These little beggars cannot move anywhere, since they are stuck in hard rock. But they get CO2 and hydrogen gas percolating slowly through the strata, and use those as an energy and carbon source. They may be the longest lived life forms. Some are considered to divide only once each 1,000 years.

[Xamonas Chegwé]

There are bacteria deep in the Earth's crust also. More than a kilometer down.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg2 ... crust.html

These little beggars cannot move anywhere, since they are stuck in hard rock. But they get CO2 and hydrogen gas percolating slowly through the strata, and use those as an energy and carbon source. They may be the longest lived life forms. Some are considered to divide only once each 1,000 years.

Yep - and when if Earth blows itself up, they could carry DNA throughout the universe - they may even be how it got here in the first place!

[Clinton Huxley]

Life, it's a fucking plague.

[JimC]

An analysis of the levels of oxygen in the sample revealed the presence of a large number of microbes.

Dr Turnewitsch explained: "These microbes, they respire as we do. And this oxygen consumption is an indirect measurement of the activity of the community."

A far cry from direct, microscopic examination, or measuring diversity via DNA analysis.

Very cursory and indirect.

[Calilasseia]

Actually, the most interesting extremophile form of life I'm aware of is a species of nematode worm that is found living inside rock 3 Km below the Earth's surface. Rejoices in the wonderful name of Halicephalobus mephisto. Full paper available here.

[Blind groper]

Nice reference, Cali.

I am going to start another thread on extremophiles and ET's.

[JacksSmirkingRevenge]

7 miles deep. That equates to about 16000 psi pressure.
Little wonder they can't get a decent look down there really.

[Deep Sea Isopod]

Now we know where DSI is hiding out.

And I would have gotten away with it, if it hadn't been for you meddling scientists!

[klr]

Now we know where DSI is hiding out.

And I would have gotten away with it, if it hadn't been for you meddling scientists!

Excellent Scooby-Dooing there.