An international team of scientists - recently returning from a 47-day expedition to the central Atlantic Ocean - has assembled an unprecedented collection of rock samples from the upper mantle layers by drilling through oceanic crust that show traces of life, a unique carbon cycle and plate movement.
Led by Dr. Gretchen Frew-Green of the Swiss Higher Technical School of Zurich, Switzerland, and Dr. Beth Orkutt of the Bigelow Ocean Research Laboratory, USA, the team of scientists collected these unique stone samples using special drilling machines of the new generation created in Germany and the USA. The purpose of the expedition was to determine the mechanism for the delivery of mantle rocks to the ocean floor and determine the chemical reactions of these rocks with seawater - since such reactions could provide "fuel" for life that develops in the absence of sunlight, that is, in such conditions in which it could occur the development of life on the surface of the early Earth or other planets.
“While drilling into rocks, we found signs of hydrogen and methane in our samples - gases that can be consumed by microbes and used as material to build new cells,” explained Dr. Orkutt. - Such types of rocks and gases are found on other planets, therefore, studying the features of the development of life in such "harsh" conditions deep under the ocean floor, we get information that can play an important role in the search for life in many parts of the Universe.
