Scientists drill at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, find ‘treasure’

Jakarta –

The research team took the deepest samples of the Earth’s mantle from the sea floor in the North Atlantic Ocean. Geologists dug 1,268 meters or more than 1 kilometer below the sea floor, the deepest hole ever penetrated into the Earth’s mantle. Analysis of recovered rock corals offers new clues about the evolution of our planet’s outer layers, and perhaps even the origins of life.

Drilling was carried out last year and the results have now been published in the journal Science. Researchers hope that a collection of rare rocks inside will reveal secrets about how the mantle facilitates underwater chemical interactions that could have given rise to life billions of years ago.

“We have succeeded. We now have a treasure trove of rocks that allow us to systematically study the processes believed to be relevant to the existence of life on this planet,” said Frieder Klein, a member of the team drilling expedition at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts.

The samples were taken from an underwater hot spring called “Lost City,” a tower-like hydrothermal vent area that spews hydrogen and organic compounds such as methane into the water. Scientists say these conditions make it an ideal place for life to emerge.

Scientists are interested in how mantle rocks might form the chemical interactions that lead to life, but samples have been difficult to obtain. However, this time they managed to find real evidence by drilling a “tectonic window” on the sea floor, where the mantle is much more exposed.

“When we found the rocks last year, it was a major achievement in the history of Earth science. But beyond that, its value lies in what the core of a mantle rock tells us about the shape of and the evolution of our planet,” the study said. lead author Johan Lissenberg of Cardiff University.

Named detikINET from Live Science, analysis of the rock is still ongoing, but so far it has proven to be the ancient geological time capsule researchers need.

“The rocks that existed on the early Earth are most similar to those we found during this trip. Studying them will give us a critical view of the chemical and physical environments that may have existed early on.” in Earth’s history,” said Susan Q Lang, associate scientist. at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institutions.

(fyk/fyk)