Scientists discovered that this rock can make its own oxygen

Dark oxygen isn’t just a great name for a Kentucky Derby-winning horse. It’s also what scientists are calling a discovery that could have implications for the critters at the bottom of the ocean and the treasure-seeking, deep-sea mining industry.

In a study published in Nature Geoscience, scientists examined large chunks of minerals called polymetallic nodules in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone of the Pacific Ocean and found they can produce oxygen in total darkness (hence: dark oxygen).

• This challenges the long-standing thinking that organisms need light to make oxygen through photosynthesis and could change how scientists view the origin of life.
• Scientists hypothesize that these nodules act as a “geobattery,” emitting electrochemical activity that separates H2O into oxygen and hydrogen.

The human world, it’s a mess

If the study’s findings hold true in further research, it may make the controversial practice of deep-sea mining, which retrieves minerals from the ocean floor (via polymetallic nodules), even more contentious since it could deplete the oxygen source that deep-sea life may depend on. (The study received funding from companies involved in mining.)

But…some see deep-sea mining as necessary since the minerals—mainly iron, manganese, lithium, cobalt, and copper—are crucial for producing green technology like solar panels and EV batteries.—CC