The discovery that lumps of metal on the seafloor produce oxygen raises questions over plans to mine the deep ocean.

Scientists have discovered “dark oxygen” being produced in the deep ocean, apparently by lumps of metal on the seafloor.

About half the oxygen we breathe comes from the ocean. But, before this discovery, it was understood that it was made by marine plants photosynthesising - something that requires sunlight.

Here, at depths of 5km, where no sunlight can penetrate, the oxygen appears to be produced by naturally occurring metallic “nodules” which split seawater - H2O - into hydrogen and oxygen.

Several mining companies have plans to collect these nodules, which marine scientists fear could disrupt the newly discovered process - and damage any marine life that depends on the oxygen they make.

  • Varyk@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    18·
    4 months ago

    Seems monumental, I’m curious about more specific properties of the metal.

    Seems like a valuable resource from a video game that charges science fiction energy drives.

    It’s funny the title is “defies knowledge of the deep ocean”, given how often it’s proven humans have so little knowledge of the deep ocean in the first place.

    • MartianSands@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      21·
      4 months ago

      The article is being pretty hyperbolic. There’s no mystery here, this is just something which happens if you put two different metals together. It’s nothing more or less than a crude battery, just like the ancestors of the AA battery the article kept harping on about.

      This discovery could be important for people studying the climate on very early Earth, people studying early life, and the ecology of the deep sea today.

      That last one is particularly troubling, though. If this is widespread, then this might be a major source of what little oxygen is down there. If so, then taking those nodules away (like a lot of people are keen to do, since some of the metals they’re made of are valuable) could destroy an entire ecosystem.

      More research is required

      • Varyk@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        3·
        4 months ago

        Do you understand how the metal becomes a battery and how it can work consistently to split hydrogen and oxygen?

        How it’s naturally charged and recharged?