When ocean scientist Andrew Sweetman saw an odd event in the far-off Pacific Ocean, he thought it might be a malfunctioning piece of equipment. His sensors detected oxygen synthesis in the absence of sunshine while surveying the 13,100-foot-deep seafloor, CNN said.
Discovery of ‘Dark’ Oxygen at Great Ocean Depths.
Sweetman told his students to send their sensors back to the manufacturer so they could be tested because he initially thought they were broken. The manufacturer did, however, reaffirm that the sensors were operating as intended.
Sweetman was surprised to find, when researching marine biodiversity in a prospective mining region with polymetallic nodules, that “dark oxygen” was being produced on the seafloor. These nodules were created chemically over millions of years using shark teeth, squid beaks, and pieces of shell.
What is dark oxygen?
Generally, sunlight is used by photosynthetic organisms, such as algae, plants, and plankton, to produce oxygen, which then cycles into the ocean’s depths. It has been shown by earlier deep-sea research that the creatures in these areas don’t create oxygen; they just use it. Sweetman’s latest research, which shows oxygen creation without photosynthesis, casts doubt on this notion. He underlined how important it is to give these surprising findings significant thought.
At first, Sweetman was not persuaded by a 2013 experiment that showed oxygen might be produced on the bottom. But in 2021, a fallback technique verified the same outcome, which led him to look at it more.
Origin of Life
According to Sweetman, knowing how oxygen is produced on the ocean floor may help us understand the genesis of life. He pointed out that the discovery that seawater electrolysis can generate oxygen in the deep sea may provide new insights into the origins of life on Earth and that life may have emerged on deep-sea hydrothermal vents. “I hope it’s the start of something amazing,” he said.
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