Inside Deep Undersea Rocks, Life Thrives Without the Sun | Quanta Magazine

Inside Deep Undersea Rocks, Life Thrives Without the Sun | Quanta Magazine

Deep life (but not as we know it) Basically everywhere they look, scientists are finding microorganisms living in porous rock deep underground, both on land and under the seafloor. Some estimates now put the number of subsurface organisms at around 1030 cells — an order of magnitude more than those living in soil, for example. Many of the microbes might not depend on photosynthesis, even indirectly. Instead, they could thrive on sources of energy such as hydrogen produced by naturally radioactive isotopes. Because energy is scarce, life down there is extreeeemely sssloooow. “It might take them 100 years or 1,000 years to divide just once,” says ocean ecologist Martin Fisk. Quanta | 12 min read