Posted on 11/19/2010 1:25:40 PM PST by Fractal Trader
IT'S crawling with life down there. A remote expedition to the deepest layer of the Earth's oceanic crust has revealed a new ecosystem living over a kilometre beneath our feet. It is the first time that life has been found in the crust's deepest layer, and an analysis of the new biosphere suggests life could exist lower still.
On a hypothetical journey to the centre of the Earth starting at the sea floor, you would travel through sediment, a layer of basalt, and then hit the gabbroic layer, which lies directly above the mantle. Drilling expeditions have reached this layer before, but as the basalt is difficult to pierce it happens rarely.
To facilitate the task, the Integrated Ocean Drilling Programme set its sights on the Atlantis Massif. [SNIP] A team led by Stephen Giovannoni of Oregon State University in Corvallis drilled down to 1391 metres, where temperatures reach 102 °C.
There, they found communities of bacteria that were sparse but widespread. The type of bacteria they found came as a surprise to Giovannoni, who has previously found micro-organisms living in the basalt layer. "We expected to find similar organisms in the deeper layer," he says. "But actually it was very different."
One key difference was that archaea were absent in the gabbroic layer. Also, genetic analysis revealed that unlike their upstairs neighbours, many of the gabbroic bugs had evolved to feed off hydrocarbons like methane and benzene. [SNIP]
"This deep biosphere is a very important discovery," says Rolf Pedersen of the University of Bergen, Norway. He points out that the reactions that produce oil and gas abiotically inside the crust could happen in the mantle, meaning life may be thriving deeper yet.
(Excerpt) Read more at newscientist.com ...
Using “waste” and “BM” in the same post is just wrong. ;’)
Uh... to keep it from squeaking?
It is, definitely.
Uh...Occam's razor says yes.
i could use a boat now. nothing too fancy, nice 40hp outboard is fine
The hydrologic cycle is just that: cyclical. We probably get a very small increase from meteorite infalls.
As far as igneous rocks, it is unlikely that the liquid state of oil would be found in them.
Why? Certain igneous units contain more than enough pore space to accommodate kerogen/crude. There seems no reason that if reservoirs are filled from the bottom-up there should be intrusion into both igneous and metamorphic structures. Yet this is not observed except as the reverse situation where prior hydrocarbons within meta-sediments have, under intense heat and pressure, metamorphosed into graphite.
...oil is usually found deep underground,
Oil is found at all depths within the crust depending on location. Fields in Iraq for example, are ¨low-lift¨ where the deposits are very close to the surface...and just a few dozen blocks from where I am at Park La Brea in Los Angeles are the famous ¨tar pits¨ where crude has broached the surface, much to the demise of thousands of animals over tens of thousands of years.
The Russians have drilled some deep wells thru some very hard ferrous-silicates, into strata that the Geologist said couldn't contain oil. Guess what not only did they get oil, the ferrous-silicates they drilled thru, altered their drill bits making them better than anything you can make topside.
They studied this and have developed an additive for internal combustion engines, drivetrains, and bearings that makes them impervious to Hydrogen enbrittlement, increases fuel efficiency, and decreases friction. Link
Carbon ratios suggest life present early in Earth's daysThe microdiamonds had surprisingly low ratios of C-13. One possible explanation is that they represent meteorites that bombarded the planet early in its history. Many meteorites are characterized by low C-13 ratios...
by Dale Gnidovec
Columbus Dispatch
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
The researchers also suggested an even more intriguing explanation: Life processes produce residues with greatly reduced C-13 ratios. If the low C-13 ratios in the microdiamonds from Australia were produced by living organisms, there was life on this planet more than 4.2 billion years ago, almost as soon as it formed.
That suggests life might be present in many parts of the universe.Conference on Evolution of Green PlantsThrough Deep Green, the scientists found that primitive freshwater plants provided the ancestral stock from which all of the earth's green land plants are descended. This finding overturned the belief that the "land-plant invasion," that is, the movement of plants from water onto land, was led by seawater plants. This discovery could have profound ecological, medical and economic implications... The researchers have found that it was green algae -- the most primitive of freshwater plants - - that became terrestrial and gave rise to land plants. However, while many groups of green algae managed to conquer the land, only one specific group evolved into land plants. The scientists are still trying to figure out why.
by Kristine CalongneThe Origin of the OceansOf the salts of the seas sodium chloride is by far the most abundant. The provenance of it is, however, a riddle. It was, and still is, assumed that the salts in the oceans originated mainly through importation from land, having been dissolved from rocks by flowing rivulets and rivers, themselves fed by underground sources, and the same process working on the rocks of the seabed. Terrestrial formations are rich in sodium, and in eons of time, it is assumed, the sodium washed out of the rocks supplied its content to the oceans; the seas evaporate and the concentration of these salts grows. But the rocks are by far not so rich in chlorine, and hence the problem... A part of the salts could be traced to the washing of lands and the floor of the seas; chlorine is known also to be discharged by volcanoes, but to account for the chlorine locked in the seas, volcanic eruptions, whether on land or under the surface of the seas, needed to have taken place on an unimaginable scale -- actually, it was figured out, on an impossible scale... Paleontological research makes it rather apparent that marine animals in some early age were more closely related to fresh-water fauna; in other words, the salinity of the oceans increased markedly at some age in the past.
by Immanuel Velikovsky
Extending the theory at out to the other planets - this would explain why Mars (which now has a residual magentic field) lost its magnetic field once it lost its oceans. If the Moon was once a part of Earth, then this would also explain the residual magnetic fields found in the Moon's crust.
That’s actually a new one to me! Thanks! I don’t believe it for a second, but it’s new, which is always refreshing. There’s no an accepted cause for the magnetic field of the Earth, other than vague handwaving that molten iron is moving around in a uniform fashion without anything moving it. :’) The constant problem since the plate tectonics revolution of the 1960s (Imho, the so-caled ptr, but anyway) has been, how to then explain magnetic reversals. The answer is, there isn’t an answer. :’D
The Atlantis Massif rises from the sea floor 4250 meters and the peak is 700 meters from the surface. If the drilled at the base that is 4.925 km from the surface(sea level). Most undersea drilling just requires jetting thru the sediments, so perhaps the drilling they're refering to was after that?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2630109/posts?page=111#111
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2272783/posts?page=23#23
Earth’s Core Spins Faster Than the Rest of the Planet
NY Times | August 25, 2005 | KENNETH CHANG
Posted on 08/25/2005 8:20:46 PM PDT by neverdem
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1470967/posts
also related (ya have to squint real hard though):
Long-Destroyed Fifth Planet May Have Caused Lunar Cataclysm, Researchers Say
SPACE dot COM | 18 March 2002 | Leonard David, Senior Space Writer
Posted on 03/25/2002 2:42:10 PM PST by vannrox
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/653287/posts
Scientific maverick’s theory on Earth’s core up for a test
SF Chronicle | Monday, November 29, 2004 | Keay Davidson
Posted on 12/05/2004 11:17:28 AM PST by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1294934/posts
Molten iron core; micro particles of magnetite circulating in the ocean currents (gives new meaning to the term) would perhaps generate charges in the earth; but how would that produce magnetic poles?
The induced currents in the earth causes the molten core iron to align magnetically, giving a spherical application of the Left Hand Rule? Somehow, that doesn’t sound quite right, but a starting point.
Google dynamo field and Alpha effect.
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