Scientists have discovered small clumps of rocks producing oxygen four km deep in the Pacific Ocean, far below the surface where sunlight can reach.
This discovery of “dark oxygen” could improve understanding of how life emerged on Earth.
Joining The Briefing to talk through what we know about the discovery is science communicator Lee Constable.
“This discovery is massive. It throws into question more things than it answers in terms of the origins of life on earth being, you know, perhaps more diverse than we thought before. It throws into question what, how we should interpret oxygen found elsewhere in the solar system and universe.”
Previously scientists believed oxygen was created by living things using energy from the sun, so the idea of ‘dark oxygen’ has thrown a curveball into that theory.
“There are even more big questions because we don’t know the source of energy for this oxygen creation. We know how it’s being created in terms of we’ve got H2O, water in abundance down there and it’s actually being split into its hydrogen and oxygen parts, which is leading us to O2, but that takes energy,” Lee explains.
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