These habitats are deployed over 2,500 kilometers along the Kouriles-Kamtchatka and Aleutian pits, at depths reaching 9,533 meters, lower than the height of Mount Everest. According to the authors, “This is the first time that such communities have been observed directly at such depths and on such a large area“.
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Unknown species with extraordinary capacities
Unlike many species that live on the seabed depending on the organic remains fallen from the surface, these organisms discovered by researchers draw their energy directly from chemical reactions. This process, called “chemosynthesis”, allows certain species to transform compounds into energy such as methane or hydrogen sulfide.
“Chemosynthesis is a type of metabolic route that fixes carbon using chemical energy, unlike photosynthesis, which uses light energy“Explains Dr. Dominic Papineau, co -author of the study. Or,”There is no longer visible light from 200 meters deep: the Hadale zone [NDLR : la fosse océanique] is therefore in total darkness“, he specifies.
The implications of these discoveries are immense. First in terms of biodiversity. In these abysses, the team observed an abundance of amazing animals: “Tubicoles with red blood shades (siboglinids), bivalve molluscs on the colorful interior, movable white worms with various appendages… “. Strange forms, never seen before, which suggest the discovery of new animal species and perhaps new types of microbial metabolisms.
“What we knew before was that there were a few chemosynthetic microbes in the Hadales pitssays Dr. Papineau. But we did not know how diversified and extended these ecosystems could be. “. These species could teach us more about the ability of life to adapt to extreme conditions.
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An underestimated role in the carbon cycle
The discovery also has major ecological implications for our understanding of the deep carbon cycle. According to the analyzes carried out by researchers, methane present in these environments would be produced by deep microbes, in sedimentary layers.
This means that these ecosystems could kidnap large quantities of carbon in the form of methane tanks. “”It is possible that large non -recorded methane tanks exist in each of the 37 Hadales pits listed through the globe“says Dominic Papineau. These results”question the vision that we had of HADAL ecosystems and suggest a source of carbon from the deep sea basement“, According to the authors of the study.
These discoveries could also relaunch the debate on the viability of the mining projects of the great funds, such as those launched under the leadership of Donald Trump to extract rare minerals. According to some researchers, these activities could threaten these just discovered ecosystems, and perhaps many more unknown.
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What if life elsewhere looked like that of the seabed?
The discovery of these particular forms of life resonates as well beyond the terrestrial oceans. It opens up new perspectives in astrobiology, the discipline which consists in looking for life elsewhere than on earth. Environments similar to those explored by this study could exist in the underground oceans of iced moon from the solar system like Europe or Enceladus. “”Even the deepest marine environments of the earth are inhabited by microbes and animals. High pressure does not seem to be a limiting factor as critical for life as we thought“, Concludes Dr. Papineau. For these researchers, these discoveries are therefore perhaps only the beginning.
