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Natureplanet earth


BILLION-YEAR-OLD WATER HAS HIGHEST CONCENTRATION OF RADIOACTIVELY-PRODUCED
ELEMENTS EVER FOUND


THE DISCOVERY OF 1.2 BILLION-YEAR-OLD WATER IN SOUTH AFRICA SHOWS THE WORLD'S
OLDEST WATER IN A CANADIAN MINE WAS NOT AN ABERRATION, AND SUCH RESERVOIRS COULD
EXIST ON OTHER PLANETS.

Stephen Luntz

Freelance Writer

clockJul 6 2022, 15:41 UTC

Dr Oliver Warr collecting a sample at the bottom of South Africa's Moab Khotsong
mine. Image Credit: Oliver Warr



In 2016 the oldest water in the world was found 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) deep at
the bottom of a Canadian mine. Since the previous record had been set three
years earlier at a higher level of the same mine, it seemed like there might be
something special about that location. Now, however, the same team have found
water at similar depth in the Moab Khotsong gold and uranium mine in South
Africa and it's at least 1.2 billion years old. Like the Canadian water, it
contains elements that allow life to survive without any access to energy from
the Sun.


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Many life forms survive without direct sunlight, for example in caves and at the
bottom of the ocean. For most, however, the Sun is still the ultimate source of
energy, for example, benthic species rely on foods that filter down from the
ocean's surface. Exceptions include life forms living around hydrothermal vents
on the sea floor, and microbes that live off hydrogen deep underground.

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Read More Read More Read More Read More Read More What Is The "MilkySea
Phenomenon"? 1/1 Skip Ad Continue watching after the ad Visit Advertiser
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We've yet to establish the depth limits for such hydrogen-fed life forms, but a
new paper in Nature Communications provides evidence exceptionally deep and
ancient habitat sites may be quite abundant. The waters beneath Moab Khotsong
have higher concentrations of elements produced by radioactive decay than have
ever been seen before, and some of them offer opportunities for life.

Dr Oliver Warr of the University of Toronto and co-authors found water within
precambrian crystalline rocks 2.9 kilometers below the surface. They note these
rocks cover an estimated 72 percent of Earth's continental crust by surface
area, and may account for as much as 30 percent of the planet's groundwater.

Reactions between the water and certain rock types produces hydrogen gas here.
Although production is slow for any specific interface, over such a large area
this can produce an immense volume of gas over time, providing a major energy
source for microbes, or perhaps for humans if we can tap it. Some of the
hydrogen reacts with carbon to produce methane and more complex hydrocarbons,
expanding the range of microorganisms that can be supported.


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Meanwhile radioactive decay of unstable isotopes produces alpha particles, which
become helium through electron capture, providing a source for arguably the most
finite resource. Uranium, thorium and potassium in the surrounding rocks decay
to produce lighter elements, including noble gasses (helium, neon and argon)
whose concentration builds up over time and provides a measure of the age of the
water in which they are trapped.

"Think of it as a Pandora's Box of helium-and-hydrogen-producing power, one that
we can learn how to harness for the benefit of the deep biosphere on a global
scale." Warr said in a statement. 

The paper does not explore the extent to which life has taken advantage of what
Moab Khotsong has to offer. However, future studies may not only reveal a deeply
alien ecosystem, they could provide insight into the potential for life deep
within other worlds, where water is abundant but sunlight unavailable.


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This is only the second example of groundwater aged more than a billion years,
but there is one important difference from the previous one. At Canada's Kidd
Creek the groundwater's isolation was total, whereas at Moab Khotsong the water
could not mix, but lighter noble gasses have escaped by diffusing through the
rocks, leading to discrepancies in the concentration between different elements.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Natureplanet earth
 * 

 * water,

 * planet earth

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Stephen Luntz

Freelance Writer

Stephen has a science degree with a major in physics, an arts degree with majors
in English Literature and History and Philosophy of Science and a Graduate
Diploma in Science Communication.

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