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  1. Content with the tag: “ocean bottom

  2. Seafloor Microbes Abundant and Thriving....An Alternative Cradle for Life?


    Credit: Nicolle Rager-Fuller/National Science Foundation

    Researchers from NAI’s Marine Biological Laboratory Team continue their study of the deep biosphere, reporting the latest results in this week’s Nature. This new study reveals that bacterial communities dwelling on ocean-bottom rocks are more abundant and diverse than previously thought, especially relative to the overlying water column. The microbes appear to “feed” on the oceanic crust through seawater–rock alteration reactions involving the oxidation and hydration of glassy basalt.

    Astrobiologists hypothesize that shallow water, not deep water, may have cradled...

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