Scientists discover ‘dark oxygen’ being produced by seabed metals in ground-breaking study

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1. An international team of scientists has discovered that oxygen is being produced by potato-shaped metallic nodules thousands of feet below the surface of the Pacific Ocean.

   The findings, which were published Monday in the [Nature Geoscience](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-024-01480-8#author-information) journal, defy the scientific consensus of how oxygen is produced — and could even force a radical rethink of the origins of complex life on Earth.

   Alongside implications for ocean science, the research raises fresh concerns about the risks of [deep-sea mining](https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/19/critical-minerals-regulator-says-deep-sea-mining-is-a-matter-of-time.html).

   A team of scientists led by Professor Andrew Sweetman at the U.K.’s Scottish Association for Marine Science found that oxygen is being produced in complete darkness approximately 4,000 meters (13,100 feet) below the ocean’s surface.

   It was previously thought that only living organisms such as plants and algae could use energy to create the planet’s oxygen through a process called photosynthesis, which requires sunlight.

   Read more: [https://www.cnbc.com/2024/07/23/dark-oxygen-discovered-in-the-deep-sea-in-groundbreaking-study.html](https://www.cnbc.com/2024/07/23/dark-oxygen-discovered-in-the-deep-sea-in-groundbreaking-study.html)