'Dark oxygen' mission takes aim at other worlds

Scientists who precocious discovered that metallic lumps connected the acheronian seabed marque oxygen, person announced plans to survey the deepest parts of Earth's oceans successful bid to recognize the unusual phenomenon.

Their ngo could "change the mode we look astatine the anticipation of beingness connected different planets too," the researchers say.

The archetypal find confounded marine scientists. It was antecedently accepted that oxygen could lone beryllium produced successful sunlight by plants - successful a process called photosynthesis.

If oxygen - a captious constituent of beingness - is made successful the acheronian by metallic lumps, the researchers judge that process could beryllium happening connected different planets, creating oxygen-rich environments wherever beingness could thrive.

Lead researcher Prof Andrew Sweetman explained: "We are already successful speech with experts astatine Nasa who judge acheronian oxygen could reshape our knowing of however beingness mightiness beryllium sustained connected different planets without nonstop sunlight.

"We privation to spell retired determination and fig retired what precisely is going on."

The archetypal find triggered a planetary technological enactment - determination was criticism of the findings from immoderate scientists and from heavy oversea mining companies that program to harvest the precious metals successful the seabed nodules.

If oxygen is produced astatine these utmost depths, successful full darkness, that calls into question what beingness could past and thrive connected the seafloor, and what interaction mining activities could person connected that marine life.

That means that seabed mining companies and biology organisations - immoderate of which claimed that the findings provided grounds that seafloor mining plans should beryllium halted - volition beryllium watching this caller probe closely.

The program is to enactment astatine sites wherever the seabed is much than 10km (6.2 miles) deep, utilizing remotely-operated submersible equipment.

"We person instruments that tin spell to the deepest parts of the ocean," explained Prof Sweetman. "We're beauteous assured we'll find it happening elsewhere, truthful we'll commencement probing what's causing it."

Some of those experiments, successful collaboration with scientists astatine Nasa, volition purpose to recognize whether the aforesaid process could let microscopic beingness to thrive beneath oceans that are connected different planets and moons.

"If there's oxygen," said Prof Sweetman, "there could beryllium microbial beingness taking vantage of that."

The initial, biologically baffling findings were published past year successful the diary Nature Geoscience. They came from respective expeditions to an country of the heavy oversea betwixt Hawaii and Mexico, wherever Prof Sweetman and his colleagues sent sensors to the seabed - astatine astir 5km (3.1 miles) depth.

That country is portion of a immense swathe of seafloor that is covered with the people occurring metallic nodules, which signifier erstwhile dissolved metals successful seawater cod connected fragments of ammunition - oregon different debris. It's a process that takes millions of years.

Sensors that the squad deployed repeatedly showed oxygen levels going up.

"I conscionable ignored it, Prof Sweetman told BBC News astatine the time, "because I'd been taught that you lone get oxygen done photosynthesis".

Eventually, helium and his colleagues stopped ignoring their readings and acceptable retired alternatively to recognize what was going on. Experiments successful their laboratory - with nodules that the squad collected submerged successful beakers of seawater - led the scientists to reason that the metallic lumps were making oxygen retired of seawater. The nodules, they found, generated electrical currents that could divided (or electrolyse) molecules of seawater into hydrogen and oxygen.

Then came the backlash, successful the signifier of rebuttals - posted online - from scientists and from seabed mining companies.

One of the critics, Michael Clarke from the Metals Company, a Canadian heavy oversea mining company, told BBC News that the disapproval was focused connected a "lack of technological rigour successful the experimental plan and information collection". Basically, helium and different critics claimed determination was nary oxygen accumulation - conscionable bubbles that the instrumentality produced during illustration collection.

"We've ruled retired that possibility," Prof Sweetman responded. "But these [new] experiments volition supply the proof."

This mightiness look a niche, method argument, but respective multi-billion lb mining companies are already exploring the anticipation of harvesting tonnes of these metals from the seafloor.

The earthy deposits they are targeting incorporate metals captious for making batteries, and request for those metals is expanding rapidly arsenic galore economies determination from fossil fuels to, for example, electrical vehicles.

The contention to extract those resources has caused interest among biology groups and researchers. More than 900 marine scientists from 44 countries person signed a petition highlighting the biology risks and calling for a intermission connected mining activity.

Talking astir his team's latest probe ngo astatine a property league connected Friday, Prof Sweetman said: "Before we bash anything, we request to - arsenic champion arsenic imaginable - recognize the [deep sea] ecosystem.

"I deliberation the close determination is to clasp disconnected earlier we determine if this is the close happening to bash arsenic a a planetary society."