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Mystery Oxygen Source Discovered on the Sea Floor 48
Something is pumping out large amounts of oxygen at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, at depths where a total lack of sunlight makes photosynthesis impossible. Nature: The phenomenon was discovered in a region strewn with ancient, plum-sized formations called polymetallic nodules, which could play a part in the oxygen production by catalysing the splitting of water molecules, researchers suspect. The findings are published in Nature Geoscience. "We have another source of oxygen on the planet, other than photosynthesis," says study co-author Andrew Sweetman, a sea-floor ecologist at the Scottish Association for Marine Science in Oban, UK -- although the mechanism behind this oxygen production remains a mystery. The findings could also have implications for understanding how life began, he says, as well as for the possible impact of deep-sea mining in the region.
The observation is "fascinating," says Donald Canfield, a biogeochemist at the University of Southern Denmark in Odense. "But I find it frustrating, because it raises a lot of questions and not very many answers." Sweetman and his collaborators first noticed something amiss during field work in 2013. The researchers were studying sea-floor ecosystems in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, an area between Hawaii and Mexico that is larger than India and a potential target for the mining of metal-rich nodules. During such expeditions, the team releases a module that sinks to the sea floor to perform automated experiments. Once there, the module drives cylindrical chambers down to close off small sections of the sea floor -- together with some seawater -- and create "an enclosed microcosm of the seafloor," the authors write. The lander then measures how the concentration of oxygen in the confined seawater changes over periods of up to several days.
Without any photosynthetic organisms releasing oxygen into the water, and with any other organisms consuming the gas, oxygen concentrations inside the chambers should slowly fall. Sweetman has seen that happen in studies he has conducted in areas of the Southern, Arctic and Indian oceans, and in the Atlantic. Around the world, sea-floor ecosystems owe their existence to oxygen carried by currents from the surface, and would quickly die if cut off. (Most of that oxygen originates in the North Atlantic and is carried to deep oceans around the world by a 'global conveyor belt.')
The observation is "fascinating," says Donald Canfield, a biogeochemist at the University of Southern Denmark in Odense. "But I find it frustrating, because it raises a lot of questions and not very many answers." Sweetman and his collaborators first noticed something amiss during field work in 2013. The researchers were studying sea-floor ecosystems in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, an area between Hawaii and Mexico that is larger than India and a potential target for the mining of metal-rich nodules. During such expeditions, the team releases a module that sinks to the sea floor to perform automated experiments. Once there, the module drives cylindrical chambers down to close off small sections of the sea floor -- together with some seawater -- and create "an enclosed microcosm of the seafloor," the authors write. The lander then measures how the concentration of oxygen in the confined seawater changes over periods of up to several days.
Without any photosynthetic organisms releasing oxygen into the water, and with any other organisms consuming the gas, oxygen concentrations inside the chambers should slowly fall. Sweetman has seen that happen in studies he has conducted in areas of the Southern, Arctic and Indian oceans, and in the Atlantic. Around the world, sea-floor ecosystems owe their existence to oxygen carried by currents from the surface, and would quickly die if cut off. (Most of that oxygen originates in the North Atlantic and is carried to deep oceans around the world by a 'global conveyor belt.')
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Given how incredibly difficult it is to intercept a neutrino, I'm going to infer from that fact that it is incredibly unlikely something evolved to do so and extract energy in the process.
Re: neutrino-photosynthetic life? (Score:4, Funny)
Oh shit, now somebody will invent Dark Life to "explain" it.
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Re: neutrino-photosynthetic life? (Score:4, Funny)
...and that explains what drives the universe apart...
The solution is clearly Dark Love to bring the universe together...
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> solution is clearly Dark Love
But we Asperger types have a hard time finding that. We need Dark Wankoff as a spare.
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I believe the metric is conserved; as spacetime is compressed in one place, it expands elsewhere.
Probably nonsense, but it makes me feel better believing I understand it.
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There is almost no energy in neutrinos to extract to do oxygen synthesis with even assuming you could intercept them, which would be a neat trick; the vast majority of neutrinos striking the earth simply pass all the way through it without interacting.
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In the deep ocean there are forms of life that get their energy from volcanic vents (either the heat or chemical energy).
If they use that energy to extract carbon from the CO2 in the volcanic emissions, they could produce free oxygen.
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It says it right there in the article. The metals along with the salt water are forming tiny batteries that are conducting current and that generates oxygen from the sea water via electrolysis.
Forge of God (Score:5, Funny)
I read about this a long time ago ... it ain't good.
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Next question (Score:2)
After how, the next question is how common this is. If it's one freakish little zone in the whole world, it is fascinating but probably not significant. If it's happening in many places... That's going to change some models.
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No doubt, they are looking. Or, more likely, some competitor/ collaborator group is adding "BOD" (biological oxygen demand) measurements to their planned programmes.
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It's common enough that mining companies want to dig it all up and bring it to the surface. We barely even know what this is, or what it does for the world as a whole and we're already looking to destroy it completely. I swear humans are the idiot who saws the branch they're sitting on.
I'm not saying it's aliens but .... (Score:1)
I't's not aliens. They discovered Atlantis. Those are oxygen emitters to get rid of the oxygenic pollution in their city.
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Those are oxygen emitters to get rid of the oxygenic pollution in their city.
Surely, the last thing they need to get deal with oxygenic pollution is an oxygen source. On the other hand, they mention that they aren't sure that the battery effect would explain this and if Atlantis is generating large amounts of oxygenic pollution then this would both explain the excess oxygen and provide an excellent way of locating Atlantis. Of course, given that Atlantis is clearly shielded against sonar, that would need huge numbers of robotic s
Something... (Score:2)
Obligatory (Score:2)
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Re: Obligatory (Score:2)
What an imagination!
Unsurprising (Score:2)
White hydrogen deposits exist in vast quantity. One theory for their presence is subterranean electrolysis. Of course that would also produce oxygen, and it's gotta go somewhere...
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Believe it or not, Earth's crust isn't full of massive electrolysis currents.
It's much simpler: there are plenty of chemicals that emit oxygen when they decompose. Peroxides, many perchlorates, some chlorates, even some some oxides (like manganese dioxide). Sulfuric acid reduction of some minerals also releases oxygen. Spoiler alert: it's just going to be chemistry.
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And yet:
https://theconversation.com/ho... [theconversation.com]
Also reread the summary.
Was it all oxygen? (Score:2)
Nuclear sub wreck (Score:1)
They should look for one around.
From the plants in Hollow Earth (Score:2)
Exoplanets with Oxygen don't necessarily have life (Score:2)
It's been assumed till now that the discovery of oxygen in the atmosphere of an exoplanet would be evidence of life. This appears a lot less secure now...
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(There are, of course, about a half-dozen types of biological photosynthesis that don't p
Thank you for the correction (Score:2)
Exoplanets are not something I've learnt much about. Appreciated.
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We can reconstruct any environment between the vacuum of space and the core of Jupiter in our labs. finding out what actually happens in those environments is a question of calc
And then the sixth grade science teacher replied.. (Score:2)
"No Billy, it's not Godzilla farts."
where's the hydrogen? (Score:2)
If you spit water you get H2 and O2
If in Doubt, Read The Friendly Paper ... (Score:5, Informative)
The paper is "Evidence of dark oxygen production at the abyssal seafloor [nature.com]", and is published as Open Access.
Valuable points missed by the journalism include :
There are probably other important points in there - I just gave it a quick skim. But RTFP for yourself - that's why it was written.
Sensors have a battery? (Score:2)
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Hell, having designed and built sensor arrays myself at school (not immersed in sea-water, but operating in the kilovolt range), and having had to install and maintain dozens of electronic and electrical sensors in a marine (salt water) environment, insulation is som
Where's The Hydrogen? (Score:1)
Hydrogen source? (Score:2)
I ain't no chemist, but splitting HO to get O should leave a bunch of H behind, shouldn't it? Where can I pump it into my future hydrogen car and hydrogen helicopter?
There must be soul sand. (Score:1)