ABOVE: Nematode in biofilm that lives 1.4 km below ground
GAETAN BORGONIE
Organisms of Earth’s deep underground constitute between 15 billion and 23 billion tons of carbon and occupy an estimated volume almost twice that of the oceans combined, scientists from the Deep Carbon Observatory reported yesterday (December 10) in advance of the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in Washington, DC.
The scientific team, which includes hundreds of researchers from all over the world, drilled boreholes kilometers below the continents and seafloor to sample microbes. The information collected by the scientists has allowed them to build models of the deep ecosystem and make the estimates of the deep life biomass.
The researchers found a stunning array of life, mostly microbial, and estimate that approximately 70 percent of the total number of Earth’s bacteria and archaea organisms live in this realm. These microbes live at extremes of pressure, temperature, and ...
