Deep-ocean floor produces its own ‘dark oxygen’
July 22, 2024
Franz Geiger along with an international team of researchers have discovered that metallic minerals on the deep-ocean floor produce oxygen — 13,000 feet below the surface. The surprising discovery challenges long-held assumptions that only photosynthetic organisms, such as plants and algae, generate Earth’s oxygen. Based on this study, it now appears oxygen also can be produced at the seafloor — where no light can penetrate — to support the oxygen-breathing (aerobic) sea life living in complete darkness.