PARIS, France — A group of scientists said on Tuesday that they have created new deep-sea landers especially to test their controversial finding that metallic rocks at the ocean’s bottom are creating “dark oxygen.”
It would be an incredible discovery that would challenge long-held beliefs about the origins of life on Earth if a hitherto unidentified supply of oxygen has always been hiding in the planet’s depths.
However, the claim has been questioned by several researchers and the deep-sea mining industry, which is eager to harvest precious metals from these potato-sized polymetallic nodules.
Therefore, in the upcoming months, British marine scientist Andrew Sweetman, who oversaw the 2024 study that suggested dark oxygen might exist, is organizing a new undersea expedition.
In an effort to determine how the nodules might be producing oxygen, Sweetman and his colleagues unveiled two new landers at a news briefing on Tuesday that could descend to a depth of 11 kilometers (seven miles).
These landers will have sensors particularly developed to “measure seafloor respiration,” in contrast to earlier missions, according to Sweetman.
According to a statement, they are more akin to space exploration equipment and can sustain 1,200 times the pressure on Earth’s surface.
In the huge area between Hawaii and Mexico known as the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, a research ship will launch the landers.
The nodules, which contain important metals used in electric car batteries and other technology, will soon be harvested by mining companies.
The scientists think that the nodules release enough electric charge to cause electrolysis, the process of splitting seawater into hydrogen and oxygen.
Despite centuries of ocean exploration, more than 80 percent of the deep sea remains unexplored. Scientists involved in the mission say the study of dark oxygen highlights just how much remains hidden beneath the waves.
The team hopes initial findings from the expedition will be released in the coming months, potentially opening a new chapter in the understanding of Earth’s most mysterious environment.
