Scientists have discovered that metallic minerals on the ocean floor at 13,000 feet (3,962 meters) below the surface of the earth may produce oxygen.
The discovery by a group of academics has important consequences for our knowledge of Earth’s atmosphere and potential extraterrestrial life, challenging the long-held idea that oxygen is created primarily by photosynthetic organisms.
Before now, scientists believed that oxygen was a byproduct of life, specifically generated by photosynthesizing autotrophs such as plants and algae. However, the current study challenges that simplified story.
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The discovery was so astounding that when lead author Andrew Sweetman first detected this “dark oxygen” in the Pacific Ocean’s Clarion-Clipperton Zone in 2013, he immediately discounted it.
“I just ignored it, because I’d been taught—you only get oxygen through photosynthesis,” Sweetman, an ecologist with the Scottish Association for Marine Science, tells Victoria Gill of BBC News. “Eventually, I realized that for years I’d been ignoring this potentially huge discovery.”
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