from the there's-life-under-them-thar-hills! dept.
Scientists Reveal a Massive Biosphere of Life Hidden Under Earth's Surface
Earth is not the home you think it is. Far below the scant surface spaces we inhabit, the planet is teeming with an incredibly vast and deep 'dark biosphere' of subterranean lifeforms that scientists are only just beginning to comprehend.
[...] "Ten years ago, we had sampled only a few sites – the kinds of places we'd expect to find life," explains microbiologist Karen Lloyd from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. "Now, thanks to ultra-deep sampling, we know we can find them pretty much everywhere, albeit the sampling has obviously reached only an infinitesimally tiny part of the deep biosphere."
There's a good reason why the sampling remains in its early stages. In a preview of results from an epic 10-year collaboration by over 1,000 scientists, Lloyd and fellow researchers with the Deep Carbon Observatory (DCO) estimate the deep biosphere – the zone of life under Earth's surface – occupies a volume of between 2 to 2.3 billion cubic kilometres (0.48 to 0.55 billion cubic miles). That's almost twice the volume of all the world's oceans – another enormous natural environment that lies largely unexplored by humans.
And just like the oceans, the deep biosphere is an abundant source of countless lifeforms – a population totalling some 15 to 23 billion tonnes of carbon mass (between 245 to 385 times greater than the equivalent mass of all humans on the surface).
The findings, representing numerous studies conducted at hundreds of sites around the world, are based on analyses of microbes extracted from sediment samples sourced 2.5 kilometres (1.6 miles) under the seafloor, and drilled from surface mines and boreholes more than 5 kilometres (3.1 miles) deep.
(Score: 2) by suburbanitemediocrity on Wednesday December 12 2018, @01:37AM (8 children)
or hasn't this been known about for a long time. It seems as if I read about this maybe 10-20 years ago.
But then people have always said I've been a little strange.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 12 2018, @01:44AM (1 child)
No, the news keeps reporting the same crap with a couple new details added as great discoveries of the age. It is the result of NHST, which leads to endless publications but kills all scientific progress.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday December 12 2018, @03:00AM
Doubt it. They tend to have actual evidence in geology. I suspect rather that it's really hard to study those bacteria in those places. So research tends to be incremental.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Wednesday December 12 2018, @01:44AM (4 children)
Why not both?
I'm pretty sure it has been well known for a while now that the biosphere goes down a long way. The thing that looks weird to me is how they're trying to explain it's size it terms of tonnes of carbon.
That seems like an odd way to measure any ecosystem.
This just looks like a new study.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday December 12 2018, @01:51AM (3 children)
Yeah. And some are even trying to bring it down faster. (grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Wednesday December 12 2018, @02:32AM (2 children)
Are we still doing phrasing?
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday December 12 2018, @03:44AM (1 child)
I don't know. Personally, I'm deep into crazy past the point I can even understand what you are asking.
(grin. Should I have grinned in my prev comment too?)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 12 2018, @07:13AM
Maybe he is quoting Archer. [urbandictionary.com]
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday December 12 2018, @01:48AM
Yes.
But don't worry, it happens to all of us; one just needs to live long enough.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 12 2018, @02:13AM (2 children)
This may be where all our oil comes from, and why we keep finding more... What does this stuff eat? Does it taste like chicken?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 12 2018, @02:15AM
This may be where all our oil comes from
Yep, it's deep, dark biosphere poop.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 12 2018, @05:55AM
Deep Carbon Mining in 3, 2, ... bet you the Big Oil are looking at how to cook this into crude already. Some of this "sampling" may be be funded by them.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by legont on Wednesday December 12 2018, @03:36AM (2 children)
Habitable zone got to be extended for all the planets out there, plus asteroids should have spores galore.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday December 12 2018, @07:08PM (1 child)
Actually, that's the green light to start nuking each other.
No matter how hard the nuclear winter, oceanic sea vents and underground ecosystems guarantee we can't completely eradicate life on the planet.
Let's get rid of those pesky humans, and all their cross contamination of ecosystems. Near-blank slate, partial evolution reset.
Be back in a few million years to see how much better the place gets.
(Score: 2) by legont on Thursday December 13 2018, @01:59AM
This concept is nicely explained here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovbF0D2wySI [youtube.com] enjoy)
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.