Posted on 11/19/2010 1:25:40 PM PST by Fractal Trader
IT'S crawling with life down there. A remote expedition to the deepest layer of the Earth's oceanic crust has revealed a new ecosystem living over a kilometre beneath our feet. It is the first time that life has been found in the crust's deepest layer, and an analysis of the new biosphere suggests life could exist lower still.
On a hypothetical journey to the centre of the Earth starting at the sea floor, you would travel through sediment, a layer of basalt, and then hit the gabbroic layer, which lies directly above the mantle. Drilling expeditions have reached this layer before, but as the basalt is difficult to pierce it happens rarely.
To facilitate the task, the Integrated Ocean Drilling Programme set its sights on the Atlantis Massif. [SNIP] A team led by Stephen Giovannoni of Oregon State University in Corvallis drilled down to 1391 metres, where temperatures reach 102 °C.
There, they found communities of bacteria that were sparse but widespread. The type of bacteria they found came as a surprise to Giovannoni, who has previously found micro-organisms living in the basalt layer. "We expected to find similar organisms in the deeper layer," he says. "But actually it was very different."
One key difference was that archaea were absent in the gabbroic layer. Also, genetic analysis revealed that unlike their upstairs neighbours, many of the gabbroic bugs had evolved to feed off hydrocarbons like methane and benzene. [SNIP]
"This deep biosphere is a very important discovery," says Rolf Pedersen of the University of Bergen, Norway. He points out that the reactions that produce oil and gas abiotically inside the crust could happen in the mantle, meaning life may be thriving deeper yet.
(Excerpt) Read more at newscientist.com ...
The thesis of the book is that oil and gas is renewable and being replenished deep underground.
They found fat ass Ted Kennedy down there. . . . .
Yep. Pretty subtle.
The bulk of biomass on this planet lives under a mile of water or rock, or both. Been going on for a long time, longer than most can comprehend... Compare ten to a hundred to a thousand to a million to a billion. 4.6 billion is our best guess. We are nothing more than a zit on the bum of this biosphere.
It sux for us to recognize this reality, that is why we all need a God. Everyone who mattered realized this about ten thousand years back.
Petroleum industry chatter has taken notice of it for decades.
That occurred to me as I read the title!
Did anyone else notice this little land mine embedded in the article?
What's the problem?
Abiotically means "without life". Are you trying to claim that gas and oil can only be produced from biological material?
I think it's pretty settled that gas and oil can be produced by purely geological and chemical means.
Oh no! I agree with you.
I think that most petroleum engineers would agree that oil deposits come from sedimentary remains of living organisms. This is probably true for most natural gas. However, natural gas appears to also be made (for example, in Jupiter's moons) from an abiotic process. Therefore, we should be open to the possibility of discovering natural gas here on the earth that is of an abiotic origin.
Why then is it only found incorporated in sediments? There are some types of metamorphic and igneous rocks porous enough for this, yet it´s not observed.
Morlocks or Molemen?
Have you also considered the dangers of soil compaction?
All the people walking around of the earth will eventually compact the soil down to sea level - resulting in a calamity like the one you described.
We must act NOW to limit human walking and thereby save our precious earth from the ravages of soil compaction.
Well, it happened before. And if it happens again, it will be for pretty much the same reasons.
≤}B^)
Oh, how can that be?
Al Gore says that it's MILLIONS of degrees 2 KM down. It would be at least a few hundred thousand to a million degrees one kilometer down if Gore is correct.
;-)
Yes, what they found was just registered to vote.
Oh man, the anti-carbon anti-fossil fuels people will hate to hear this!
[laughs with schadenfreude]
Why then are hydrocarbons observed on other planets? How did they come to be?
I'm stocking up now. When snowshoes become mandatory, I promise to offer reasonable prices to all Freepers.
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