Over the past 10 years, scientists at the Deep Carbon Observatory (DCO) have conducted a study that has detected a giant ecosystem living below us. Comprised of over 1,000 scientists from 52 countries around the world, this group of scientists maps the strange and wild life of Earth's "deep biosphere" - the mysterious patchwork of subterranean ecosystems that exists between Earth's surface and its core.
It may sound scary, but according to new DCO research, harsh conditions haven't stopped millions of species of microbial life from evolving since the planet's birth. In a statement calling Earth's deep biosphere an "underground galapagos just waiting to be studied," scientists of the DCO estimate that the biomass of carbon-based life outweighs the amount of life roaming the Earth's surface.
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With an estimated 17 billion to 25 billion tons of carbon (15 to 23 billion metric tons) under the planet's surface, DCO researchers estimate that there is about 300 to 400 times more underground carbon biomass (most of which is still undiscovered) than humans on Earth.
“Even under energetically challenging conditions, intraterrestrial ecosystems have uniquely evolved and persisted over time. millions of years," said Fumio Inagaki, a geobiologist at the Sea of Japan Maritime and Technology Agency and member of the DCO, in communicated. “Expanding our knowledge of deep life will inspire new insights into planetary habitability, leading us to understand why life emerged on our planet and whether life persists underground on Mars and other bodies celestial”.
Indeed, studying microbial life deep within the Earth has already advanced our understanding of the conditions under which life can thrive. Researchers have drilled hundreds of kilometers into the sea floor and sampled the microbiomes from various locations around the world. Data from these sites suggest that the world's deep biosphere encompasses about 2.3 million cubic kilometers - about twice the volume of all of Earth's oceans - and is home to about 70% of all bacteria and single-celled organisms on the planet.
Some of these species make their homes in the warmest and deepest niches in the world. An example of an organism is Geogemma barossii. Living in deep-sea hydrothermal vents, this microscopic life form grows and replicates at 250 degrees Fahrenheit (121 degrees Celsius), well above the boiling point of water.
Meanwhile, the record for the deepest life so far dates from around 5 km below the continental surface and 10.5 km below the surface of the ocean. Expanding what we know about the limits of life on Earth could give scientists new criteria for looking for life on other planets.
If there are potentially millions of undiscovered organisms growing, thriving and evolving in the crust of our planet, so our studies of biodiversity on Earth so far have literally only scratched the surface.
