It goes without saying that the deep ocean is mysterious, but scientists have discovered a dark oxygen mystery that left them shocked and baffled. Wait, what's dark oxygen you probably asked. Is it like the evil version of oxygen with its own red lightsaber? Well, no but it is a bit of a mystery.
You see, plants don't create dark oxygen like the normal variety. And right now, it's being produced down in the depths of the ocean, according to a new study. As you learn in school, plants use sunlight to undergo photosynthesis and create the air around us. However, the oxygen produced under the sea is so far down that sunlight doesn't reach it. Yet, it's still somehow being produced, according to a study published on Monday in the journal Nature Geoscience.
So what gives? Well instead of plants, metallic nodules resembling coal are creating dark oxygen. They're breaking water into both hydrogen and oxygen molecules. Researchers first noticed the phenomena all the way back in 2013. Lead scientist Andrew Sweetman, a professor at the Scottish Association for Marine Science, said his team noticed the production. They were studying the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, an area between Mexico and Hawaii. At first, Sweetman assumed his equipment wasn't working right.
Dark Oxygen Mystery
"I basically told my students, just put the sensors back in the box," Sweetman told CNN. "We'll ship them back to the manufacturer and get them tested because they're just giving us gibberish. And every single time the manufacturer came back: 'They're working. They're calibrated.'" He ignored the initial findings because they went against everything he knew about oxygen creation. "Eventually, I realized that for years I'd been ignoring this potentially huge discovery," Sweetman told BBC News.
You see oxygen in the ocean comes from algae, bacteria, plants, and plankton. However, none of them are able to undergo photosynthesis that deep in the ocean. However, these minerals apparently can. They're made of lithium, cobalt, and copper. However, the study raises concerns about frequent mining for these materials to produce batteries. Because if they're producing oxygen for us, what effects could that have?
