New discovery suggests the secret to extraterrestrial life could be deep in the ocean
Scientists have found life at the deepest depths yet on the ocean floor in the northwestern Pacific that doesn’t depend on sunlight to survive.
Most life on Earth depends on sunlight in order to get the energy it needs to prosper. However, in the depths of the world’s oceans in extreme environments, where sunlight does not reach, life has found another way to get the nutrients it needs.
New research has discovered an “astonishing abundance and diversity” of these alien lifeforms at the greatest depth yet. Their findings were recently published in Nature and “challenge current models of life at extreme limits and carbon cycling in the deep ocean.” The study also provides clues to how extraterrestrial life could survive in extreme environments.
Chemosynthesis-based communities thriving in the harshest of environments
The group of researchers from the Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering, part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, using a manned submersible vehicle discovered numerous organisms at the bottom of ocean trenches between Russia and Alaska in the northwest Pacific. One of the communities was found over 31,000 below the ocean surface, greater than the height of Mount Everest.
That is a depth nearly 25% greater than chemosynthetic life has previously been documented anywhere on the planet. In the absence of sunlight the communities of organisms, dominated by clams and tubeworms, use chemosynthesis, chemical reactions, to obtain their energy instead of photosynthesis.
Specifically, “these communities are sustained by hydrogen sulfide-rich and methane-rich fluids that are transported along faults traversing deep sediment layers in trenches,” the researchers stated. “Given geological similarities with other hadal trenches, such chemosynthesis-based communities might be more widespread than previously anticipated,” they added.
“What makes our discovery groundbreaking is not just its greater depth – it’s the astonishing abundance and diversity of chemosynthetic life we observed,” marine geochemist and co-author of the study Mengran Du told Reuters. “Even though living in the harshest environment, these life forms found their way in surviving and thriving,” Du added.
Findings suggest similar communities may also exist in extraterrestrial oceans
Xiaotong Peng, leader of the research program, told Reuters that the group’s findings “suggest that similar chemosynthetic communities may also exist in extraterrestrial oceans.”
Jupiter’s moon Europa is considered to be one of the most promising in our solar system according to NASA. Last year, the US space agency launched the Europa Clipper spacecraft to determine the satellite’s habitability. It is scheduled to reach the celestial body in April 2030.
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