Discover life under a 15km deep crack

Microorganisms thrive in one of the harshest environments of the Earth, opening the hope of finding life on another planet.

Magnified images taken with fluorescent light show the bacteria appearing dense in basalt cracks in the ocean floor.(Photo: CNN).

A research team from the University of Tokyo, Japan on April 2 announced the discovery of billions of bacteria living in basalt cracks in the ocean floor, at a depth of nearly 15km above sea level. Cracks, smaller than 1 mm, filled with clay like rocks on both and below the surface of Mars.

The ocean floor, or Earth's upper crust, has been continuously formed for about 3.8 billion years. Basalt here is created by the activity of underground volcanoes due to molten lava at a temperature of about 1,200ºC hardened when exposed to cold sea water. Hydrothermal vents are considered a vital source of life for microorganisms on the ocean floor, helping to convert minerals into energy, instead of using light.

The team, led by Associate Professor Yohey Suzuki at Tokyo University's Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, drilled 122m into the ocean floor in an ocean area between Tahiti and New Zealand to collect rock samples. basalt, ranging from 33 to 104 million years old. They found unicellular microorganisms thrive in small cracks between the rock, which is filled with mineral-rich clay.

Suzuki estimates that up to 10 billion bacterial cells live in every cubic centimeter of the crack. Scientists believe that the iron content of the clay has assisted the growth of the bacterial community here.

"The discovery of such a rich microbial community inside the rock is like a dream," Suzuki stressed. " It gives me hope that someday similar life forms can be found in the harsh environment on Mars."

Gale crater on Mars.(Photo: NASA).

The "red planet" also has a basalt crust like the Earth formed 4 billion years ago. Since NASA's Curiosity probe landed on the Martian surface in 2012, it has made many discoveries at the Gale crater in the center of Aeolis Mons mountain (5,000 m high from the bottom of the valley). and find lots of clay inside the basalt cracks here.