Jakarta –
In 2016, researchers at a mine in Canada discovered the world’s oldest pool of water. The pool of water at a depth of about 3 kilometers is believed to be 2 billion years old.
The discovery “revises” the oldest known water data at least 500 million years. The previous record was held by water found in the same mine by the same team in 2013, and came from a depth of about 2.5 kilometers.
Quoted from IFL Sciencethis mine is actually the deepest basalt metal mine in the world, as the search for copper, zinc, and silver leads the miners deeper into the Earth’s crust.
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As the miners dig deeper, the researchers take the opportunity to explore further into the mine. They analyzed the water found by studying the gases trapped in it.
Gases like helium and xenon can be trapped in water stuck in rock crevices, and measuring them can tell how old the water is.
“When people think about this water, they think it must be a small amount of water trapped inside the rock,” said Professor Barbara Sherwood Lollar, who presented the discovery.
“But in reality, these things are flowing at the rate of liters per minute, the volume of water is much greater than anyone expected.”
What’s more, the age of the vast waters is not the only important discovery. When the researchers analyzed the fluid, they found traces of life inside.
While they haven’t found actual living bacteria, what they have found are actually the fingerprints of life. From this, they can conclude that there have been several forms of microbiology that have lived in water and for very long periods of time.
The fact that something is able to survive, and indeed thrive, in water so old and so deep within the Earth has several important implications.
Not only can it tell us about life on Earth billions of years ago, but it can also help search for life beyond Earth.
While rivers no longer flow across the Martian surface, there are still pockets of water and ice beneath the surface. This is not at all as deep as the water found in Canada, and it is possible that these pockets could provide the necessary conditions for microorganisms to live.
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