Life is found in deepest layer of Earth's crust

The New Scientist ^ | 18 November 2010 | Michael Marshall

[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.

[JaguarXKE]

However, the search for life inside the Democrat Party continues.

[Zeppo]

Now, how we're going to manage to get deep drilling equipment to the surface of Titan or Europa, that's for future generations to engineer.

"All these worlds are yours except Europa. Attempt no landings there."

[GourmetDan]

"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."

Oh, I wouldn't say that. Way back when, the U.S. and the Russians were supposed to fight a war over Middle Eastern oil fields because the Russians didn't have any oil. Didn't have the 'correct' sedimentary layers for oil deposits, 'they' said.

Of course, Russia is a huge oil exporter today because they went for the deep, abiotic oil. It's probably biological oil that is the fairy tale. More likely that oil is abiotic and biologically contaminated rather than biological in origin.

[PATRIOT1876]

“Giving society cheap, abundant energy would be the equivalent of giving an idiot child a machine gun.” — Paul Ehrlich, Stanford professor of biology.

...or a useful tool for patriots to build a safe, free, prosperous society.

[Ken H]

Here's what worries me...Speaking of sediment, what happens when all the rocks and dirt above sea level eventually erode into the oceans? That will FLOOD THE WHOLE EARTH!!! What are we doing about earth erosion now? Our offspring will all need boats!

Tin foil stuff. The REAL worry is that if we keep punching holes in the sea floor, the water will drain INTO the hollow core of the earth!

[fso301]

It makes sense because of the way the crust which is full of life is continually forced downward to be recycled.

[Domandred]

Great some other minuscule oceanic animal for envirowackos to protect

[Tigen]

Yes and they were there. 350000000000000000. Trillion years ago and can’t be disturbed from oil drilling etc etc etc

[muawiyah]

The only question has been how much of it gets produced, not whether it could be produced.

It could very well "rain in" from space from time to time.

[aruanan]

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.

See The Deep, Hot Biosphere by Thomas Gold or his 1992 PNAS paper with the same title.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Coldone.

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[aruanan]

The thesis of the book is that oil and gas is renewable and being replenished deep underground.

Well, the thesis is that petroleum is being formed from primordial methane that is cracked by passage through various rock pores and temperature gradients into longer and longer hydrocarbon chains and forming petroleum and coal deposits (as well as methane). So the near-surface pools are being replenished, but the original methane deposits are still being depleted through outgassing. It behooves us, therefore, to trap and use it before it is released to the atmosphere to be oxidized to CO2. That's good for the plants, but it robs us of an energy resource along the way.

The hot, deep biosphere consists of bacteria that live at depth on the oil, the methane, and other chemical energy sources, though they aren't the source of the petroleum.

[Moltke]

Life is found in deepest layer of Earth's crust

I'm having a bit of a problem with the statement of that headline (and as it is explained in the article).

The thickness of Earth's crust is 30-50 km in the continental regions and still 5-10 km beneath the oceans. So how does 1 km end up being "the deepest layer"? It's barely scratching the surface! Heck, most mines go down a lot deeper than that.

[TigersEye]

Giving new meaning to ‘you can run but you can’t hide.’

[redhead]

"Peak oil. LMAO. Are the eco fecal freaks right about anything?"

Hmmm...this sounds like a job for "Deep, Hot Biosphere."

[SunkenCiv]

@ (but not pinging) aruanan, BwanaNdege, Eepsy, Fractal Trader, GourmetDan, KoRn, mmercier, muawiyah, Oberon, redhead, TChris, UCANSEE2, vbmoneyspender, and YHAOS -- and anyone else interested. Thomas Gold keyword, newest to oldest, minus this current topic.

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[SunkenCiv]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2630109/posts?page=56#56

[SunkenCiv]

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[Smokin' Joe]

Did anyone else notice this little land mine embedded in the article?

Yep. No attempt to look for other sources, just an assumption that because some methane is produced abiotically, that all methane is. Someone needs to eat more beans and get a clue.

[djf]

I thought I had read at some time that they had found bacteria down to like 10,000 meters or so. Some site in Norway?? Ring a bell, anybody??