We use cookies to improve your experience, some are essential for the operation of this site.

Illustration depicting where microbial life is discovered in vents.

Illustration depicting where microbial life is discovered in vents.
Illustration depicting where microbial life is discovered in vents.
Illustration depicting where microbial life is discovered in vents.
Illustration depicting where microbial life is discovered in vents.
Comments (0)
256239
Cook, John E.
Illustration depicting where microbial life is discovered in vents.
Illustration
12/26/2007
AncientVent5-text.jpg
News Release caption:
Scientist found mummified microbial life in rocks from a seafloor hydrothermal system that was active more than 100 million years ago during the Early Cretaceous when the supercontinent Pangaea was breaking apart and the Atlantic ocean was just about to open. Buried under almost 700 meters of sediment, the samples were recovered by the seafloor drilling vessel JOIDES Resolution near the coast of Portugal. Hydrothermal fluids rich in hydrogen and methane mixed with seawater about 65 meters below the seafloor. This process supported bacteria and archaea in what scientists call 'the deep biosphere' in rocks from Earth's mantle. Conditions for microbial life were nearly ideal, the study showed, in this seemingly inhospitable environment.
Image Of the Day caption:
While conducting a study on hydrogen generation in mantle rocks, WHOI associate scientist, Frieder Klein and his colleagues discovered the remains of fossilized microorganisms mummified in hydrothermal deposits. The microbes appear to have been thriving beneath the rocky seafloor when the supercontinent Pangaea broke apart, and the Atlantic ocean opened, more than 100 million years ago. The primitive organisms drew energy from seawater mixed with hot hydrothermal fluids enriched in hydrogen. Studying the environmental conditions of this habitat may provide important clues to our understanding of what represents possibly the most primitive and ancient ecosystem on Earth.
Illustration by Jack Cook (WHOI) and Ron Blakey (Colorado Plateau Geosystems)
© Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Labels
This item includes these files
Image
Image
Collections