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Article: Large needles provides evidence for oceanic crustal biosphere
- Article from:
- Sea Technology
- Article date:
- April 1, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright Compass Publications, Inc. Apr 2003. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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Teeming with heat-loving microbes, samples of fluid drawn from the crustal rocks that make up most of the Earth's seafloor are providing more to support the assertion that life is widespread within oceanic crust, according to H. Paul Johnson, a University of Washington (UW) oceanographer.
Scientists have known for 20 years of microorganisms that thrive in the acidic iron-, sulfur- and heavy-metal-rich fluid environments in areas where seafloor is being created at mid-ocean ridge spreading centers.
Some laboratory work shows bacteria extracted from seamount flanks grow best at hot temperatures. This means that the fluid and microbes are coming from deeper within the ocean crust.
Though ...