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Deep biosphere
The deep biosphere is the part of the biosphere that resides below the first few meters of the land surface and seafloor. It extends 10 km (6.2 mi) below the continental surface and 21 km (13 mi) below the sea surface, at temperatures that may reach beyond 120 °C (248 °F) which is comparable to the maximum temperature where a metabolically active organism has been found. It includes all three domains of life and the genetic diversity rivals that on the surface.
The first indications of deep life came from studies of oil fields in the 1920s, but it was not certain that the organisms were indigenous until methods were developed in the 1980s to prevent contamination from the surface. Samples are now collected in deep mines and scientific drilling programs in the ocean and on land. Deep observatories have been established for more extended studies. [citation needed]
Near the surface, living organisms primarily consume organic matter and breathe oxygen (heterotrophs) or photosynthesize energy from sunlight (autotrophs). Lower down, these resources are not available, so organisms make use of "edibles" (electron donors) such as hydrogen (released from rocks by various chemical processes), methane (CH4), reduced sulfur compounds, and ammonium (NH4). They "breathe" electron acceptors such as nitrates and nitrites, manganese and iron oxides, oxidized sulfur compounds and carbon dioxide (CO2). There is very little energy at greater depths, so metabolisms are up to a million times slower than at the surface.[citation needed] Cells may live for thousands of years before dividing and there is no known limit to their age.[citation needed]
The subsurface accounts for about 90% of the biomass across two domains of life, Archaea and Bacteria, and 15% of the total for the biosphere. Estimates in fact vary significantly depending on the samples and the measurement methods used, the "15 to 23 billion tons" figure is cited very often.[citation needed] Eukarya are also found, including some multicellular life - fungi and animals (nematodes, flatworms, rotifers, annelids, and arthropods). Viruses are also present and infect the microbes.
The deep biosphere is an ecosystem of organisms and their living space in the deep subsurface. For the seafloor, an operational definition of deep subsurface is the region that is not bioturbated by animals; this is generally about a meter or more below the surface. On continents, it is below a few meters, not including soils. The organisms in this zone are sometimes referred to as intraterrestrials. A subset of the deep biosphere found at depths where pressure and heat greatly exceed that survivable by surface life was delineated and named by Thomas Gold in a 1992 paper titled, "The Deep, Hot Biosphere."
At the University of Chicago in the 1920s, geologist Edson Bastin enlisted the help of microbiologist Frank Greer in an effort to explain why water extracted from oil fields contained hydrogen sulfide and bicarbonates. These chemicals are normally created by bacteria, but the water came from a depth where the heat and pressure were considered too great to support life. They were able to culture anaerobic sulfate-reducing bacteria from the water, demonstrating that the chemicals had a bacterial origin.
Also in the 1920s, Charles Lipman, a microbiologist at the University of California, Berkeley, noticed that bacteria that had been sealed in bottles for 40 years could be reanimated – a phenomenon now known as anhydrobiosis. He wondered whether the same was true of bacteria in coal seams. He sterilized samples of coal, wetted them, crushed them and then succeeded in culturing bacteria from the coal dust. One sterilization procedure, baking the coal at 160 °C (320 °F) for up to 50 hours, actually encouraged their growth. He published the results in 1931.
The first studies of subsurface life were conducted by Claude E. Zobell, the "father of marine microbiology", in the late 1930s to the 1950s. Although the coring depth was limited, microbes were found wherever the sediments were sampled. With increasing depth, aerobes gave way to anaerobes.
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Deep biosphere
The deep biosphere is the part of the biosphere that resides below the first few meters of the land surface and seafloor. It extends 10 km (6.2 mi) below the continental surface and 21 km (13 mi) below the sea surface, at temperatures that may reach beyond 120 °C (248 °F) which is comparable to the maximum temperature where a metabolically active organism has been found. It includes all three domains of life and the genetic diversity rivals that on the surface.
The first indications of deep life came from studies of oil fields in the 1920s, but it was not certain that the organisms were indigenous until methods were developed in the 1980s to prevent contamination from the surface. Samples are now collected in deep mines and scientific drilling programs in the ocean and on land. Deep observatories have been established for more extended studies. [citation needed]
Near the surface, living organisms primarily consume organic matter and breathe oxygen (heterotrophs) or photosynthesize energy from sunlight (autotrophs). Lower down, these resources are not available, so organisms make use of "edibles" (electron donors) such as hydrogen (released from rocks by various chemical processes), methane (CH4), reduced sulfur compounds, and ammonium (NH4). They "breathe" electron acceptors such as nitrates and nitrites, manganese and iron oxides, oxidized sulfur compounds and carbon dioxide (CO2). There is very little energy at greater depths, so metabolisms are up to a million times slower than at the surface.[citation needed] Cells may live for thousands of years before dividing and there is no known limit to their age.[citation needed]
The subsurface accounts for about 90% of the biomass across two domains of life, Archaea and Bacteria, and 15% of the total for the biosphere. Estimates in fact vary significantly depending on the samples and the measurement methods used, the "15 to 23 billion tons" figure is cited very often.[citation needed] Eukarya are also found, including some multicellular life - fungi and animals (nematodes, flatworms, rotifers, annelids, and arthropods). Viruses are also present and infect the microbes.
The deep biosphere is an ecosystem of organisms and their living space in the deep subsurface. For the seafloor, an operational definition of deep subsurface is the region that is not bioturbated by animals; this is generally about a meter or more below the surface. On continents, it is below a few meters, not including soils. The organisms in this zone are sometimes referred to as intraterrestrials. A subset of the deep biosphere found at depths where pressure and heat greatly exceed that survivable by surface life was delineated and named by Thomas Gold in a 1992 paper titled, "The Deep, Hot Biosphere."
At the University of Chicago in the 1920s, geologist Edson Bastin enlisted the help of microbiologist Frank Greer in an effort to explain why water extracted from oil fields contained hydrogen sulfide and bicarbonates. These chemicals are normally created by bacteria, but the water came from a depth where the heat and pressure were considered too great to support life. They were able to culture anaerobic sulfate-reducing bacteria from the water, demonstrating that the chemicals had a bacterial origin.
Also in the 1920s, Charles Lipman, a microbiologist at the University of California, Berkeley, noticed that bacteria that had been sealed in bottles for 40 years could be reanimated – a phenomenon now known as anhydrobiosis. He wondered whether the same was true of bacteria in coal seams. He sterilized samples of coal, wetted them, crushed them and then succeeded in culturing bacteria from the coal dust. One sterilization procedure, baking the coal at 160 °C (320 °F) for up to 50 hours, actually encouraged their growth. He published the results in 1931.
The first studies of subsurface life were conducted by Claude E. Zobell, the "father of marine microbiology", in the late 1930s to the 1950s. Although the coring depth was limited, microbes were found wherever the sediments were sampled. With increasing depth, aerobes gave way to anaerobes.