Jan. 2, 2003 CORVALLIS, Ore. – A new study has discovered an
abundance of microbial life deep beneath the ocean floor in
ancient basalt that forms part of the Earth's crust, in research
that once more expands the realm of seemingly hostile or remote
environments in which living organisms can apparently thrive.
The research was done off the coast of Oregon near a sea-floor
spreading center on the Juan de Fuca Ridge, by scientists from
Oregon State University and several other institutions. It will
be published Friday in the journal Science. In 3.5 million-year-
old crust almost 1,000 feet beneath the bottom of the ocean,
researchers found moderately hot water moving through the
heavily-fractured basalt. The water was depleted in sulfate and
greatly enriched with ammonium, suggesting biological activity
in a high-pressure, undersea location far from the types of
carbon or energy sources upon which most life on Earth is based.
It was one of the most precise biological samplings ever taken
from deep under the ocea