Oxygen Discovery Defies Knowledge Of The Deep Ocean
{Oxygen Discovery – Earth and Leaf Editorial}
{extract below}
Oxygen discovery defies knowledge of the deep ocean
We really must mess up again and deep ocean mining might be just that. Extract below:
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.
Today’s link to our pages or posts . . .
A Billion Years from Now, a Lack of Oxygen will Wipe out Life on Earth
Look at BBC Bitesize – Photosynthesis
Iain Dunn
Founder of Earth and Leaf Community Interest Company. Lifelong career as a livestock farming expert backed by an education in agricultural sciences and economics. Now a conservationist, researcher and sustainability campaigner.