A recent discovery has left scientists speechless. We are talking about the inexplicable dark oxygen present on the ocean floor. This particular molecular oxygen is created without the intervention of any form of life, but on the contrary thanks to a chemical reaction. It is therefore a completely unexpected discovery that puts an end to the idea according to which in order to be able to produce the oxygen we need to be able to breathe, we need photosynthesizing organisms.
This incredible and at the same time surprising discovery was made by Andrew Sweetman of the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) together with his colleagues, just as they were checking oxygen levels on the ocean floor.
A discovery that has left everyone speechless and that has also led the marine scientist of SAMS, namely Nicholas Owens, to intervene even though he is not involved in this research. The scientist in fact wanted to clarify that the discovery according to which the production of oxygen can occur through a photosynthetic process leads us to have to re-examine also the way in which the evolution of life on the planet could have originated.
Some information about the research
The Pacific Ocean is rich in marine life in its seabed. black and rounded rocks. At depths of 4,000 meters and more, oxygen levels tend to increase not quickly but at the same time mercilessly. And it is precisely these data that have raised many doubts in scientists who, convinced that the sensors used were defective, have carried out several studies over the years that have however always produced the same results.
They then decided to adopt “a backup method” which did not involve the use of optoelectronic sensors used up to that point. The results obtained were the same and therefore the scientists understood that they had made a new and surprising discovery. In order to investigate the question they therefore collected some of these nodular rocks and discovered that Single polymetallic nodules are capable of producing voltages as low as 0.95 V.
This means that as a group they are able to reach 1.5 V and through an electrolysis reaction they can separate oxygen from water. According to Northwestern, this discovery is a “geobattery natural“, currently the only valid explanation for the production of dark oxygen on the ocean floor.
