Discovery of 'Dark Oxygen' in Deep Ocean Defies Previous Oxygen Production Theories
Researchers have found that metallic nodules on the deep ocean floor are generating oxygen in the absence of light a phenomenon previously thought impossible, reports BBC. Traditionally, it was believed that oceanic oxygen production depended solely on sunlight-driven photosynthesis by marine plants. However, at depths of 5 kilometers, where sunlight doesn’t reach these metal nodules are breaking down seawater into hydrogen and oxygen revealing a new, non-biological method of oxygen generation.