Provided by Will Dunham
(Reuters) -Scientists diving to stunning depths in two ocean trenches in the Northwest Pacific Ocean, discovered prosperous marine creatures that keep them from eating organic matter, like most animals, but by turning chemicals into energy.
They found these chemosynthesis -based animal communities dominated by pipe worms and molluscs – during diving series to crew underwater underwater underwater left and aleutic trenches. These creatures are fed by fluids rich in hydrogen sulfide and methane emanating from the seabed in this dark and cold area behind the sunlight.
These ecosystems were found at a depth of larger than Everest Hill, the top of the highest land. The deepest was 9,533 meters (31,276 feet) below the ocean surface in Kurril-Kamchatka trench. It was almost 25% deeper than such animals were previously documented.
“What makes our discovery is not only a greater depth of it – it is a stunning abundance of chemosynthetic life and the variety we watched,” said the Marine Geochemist Mažgran two of the Institute of Science and Engineering, or IDSSE, part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, one of the research published on Wednesday.
“Unlike the pockets of isolated organisms, this community thrives as a vibrant oasis in the huge desert of the deep sea,” the two added.
Although some marine animals were recorded at an even greater depth, nearly 11,000 meters (36,000 feet) below the surface in the Pacific Mariana Trench, two, they were not chemistry eaters.
In the new study, scientists used their underwater, called “Fendouzhe” to go to the so -called Hadal area. The Hadal area is one of the continent’s size plates that make up the earth’s crust skis under a neighboring plate called subduction.
“The ocean environment is characterized by cold, complete darkness and active tectonic activities,” said IDSSE Marine geologist and research co-author Xiaotong Peng, a leader of the research program.
According to Peng, this environment has been found to have “the deepest and most widest chemosynthetic communities that are known to exist on our planet.”
Kuril-Kamchatka trenches in the trench are about 2,900 km (1,800 miles) and are on the southeast coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula. Aleut’s trench trench has about 3400 km (2,100 miles) from the southern coast of the southern Alaska and Aleut Islands.
Newly observed ecosystems dominated two types of chemically eating animals-pipe worms, which were red, gray or white and about 20-30 cm (8-12 inches) long, and molluscs, which were white and up to 23 cm (nine-inch). Some of them are previously unknown species, said two.
“While living in the harshest environment, these life forms of life have found the way to survive and prosper,” said the two.
Some non -chemically eating animals are supported by eating organic matter and dead marine creatures filtering from above have been found in these ecosystems, including sea anemones, spoon worms and sea cucumbers.
The expedition chief scientist two described how to visit this remote water sphere.
“Diving underwater was an extraordinary experience similar to traveling over time. Every landing took me to a new deep -sea sphere, as if to unveiling the hidden world and revealing its secrets,” said two, expressing the wonderful resistance and beauty of the beings.
The study illustrates how life can flourish in some extreme conditions on Earth and potentially outside.
“These conclusions expand the depth of chemosynthetic communities on Earth. Future works should focus on how these beings adapt to such extreme depths,” Peng said.
“We suggest that similar chemosynthetic communities can also exist in extraterrestrial oceans, as there are common chemical species such as methane and hydrogen,” Peng added.
(Will Dunham’s message in Washington, edited by Rosalba O’Brien)