An international team of scientists has discovered that oxygen is produced in total darkness about 4,000 meters (13,100 feet) below the ocean surface.
It was previously thought that only living organisms, such as plants and algae, could use energy to create the planet’s oxygen through a process called photosynthesis, which requires sunlight.
Researchers sampled the seafloor of the Clarion-Clapperton Zone, an abyssal plain between Hawaii and Mexico, to assess the possible impacts of deep-sea mining.
A team of international scientists has discovered that oxygen is produced in complete darkness, about 4,000 meters below the ocean surface.
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An international team of scientists has discovered that oxygen is produced by potato-shaped metal nodules thousands of meters below the surface of the Pacific Ocean.
The findings, published Monday in the journal Nature Geoscience, challenge the scientific consensus on how oxygen is produced — and could even force a radical rethinking of the origins of complex life on Earth.
Besides the implications for ocean science, this research raises new concerns about the risks of deep-sea mining.
A team of scientists led by Professor Andrew Sweetman of the UK’s Scottish Marine Science Association has discovered that oxygen is produced in total darkness about 4,000 metres (13,100 feet) below the ocean surface.
It was previously thought that only living organisms, such as plants and algae, could use energy to create the planet’s oxygen through a process called photosynthesis, which requires sunlight.
“For aerobic life to begin on the planet, there had to be oxygen, and we understand that the Earth’s oxygen supply began with photosynthetic organisms,” Sweetman said.
“But we now know that oxygen is produced in the deep sea, where there is no light. So I think we have to ask new questions like: where could aerobic life have started?”
Essential minerals such as cobalt, nickel, copper and manganese can be found in potato-sized nodules on the ocean floor.
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The “black oxygen” was discovered during a field research mission in the Pacific Ocean. The team collected samples from the seafloor of the Clarion-Clapperton Zone, an abyssal plain located between Hawaii and Mexico, to assess the possible impacts of deep-sea mining.
The researchers analyzed several nodules and found that many of them carried a “very high” electrical charge, which they believe could lead to the splitting of seawater into hydrogen and oxygen through a process called seawater electrolysis.
“With this discovery, we’ve generated a lot of unanswered questions and I think we have a lot to think about in terms of how we exploit these nodules, which are effectively batteries in a rock,” Sweetman said.
He added that further research into the production of “black oxygen” would be needed.
The study was funded in part by Canadian deep-sea mining company The Metals Company, which aims to mine part of the Clarion-Clapperton zone by the end of 2025.
Deep-sea mining is a controversial practice that involves using heavy machinery to extract precious minerals and metals—such as cobalt, nickel, copper, and manganese—found in polymetallic nodules on the ocean floor. The end uses for these minerals are wide-ranging and include electric vehicle batteries, wind turbines, and solar panels.
Scientists warn that it is difficult to predict the overall environmental impact of deep-sea mining.
In this handout provided by Greenpeace, Greenpeace activists protest outside the Hilton Hotel, Canary Wharf, during the opening morning of the annual Deep Sea Mining Summit on April 17, 2024 in London, England.
Handout | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Environmental groups, for their part, say the practice cannot be carried out sustainably and will inevitably lead to the destruction of ecosystems and the extinction of species.
“The discovery that a process associated with polymetallic nodules produces oxygen, in an area targeted by deep-sea mining, provides further support for the urgent need for a moratorium,” said Sofia Tsenikli, global campaigner on deep-sea mining for the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition, a non-governmental environmental group.
“This research highlights how much we still have to discover and learn about the deep seafloor and raises more questions about how deep-sea mining could impact seafloor life and processes,” Tsenikli said Monday.
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