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Bacteria living more than 4,000 meters below the surface of the Pacific Ocean absorb about 10% of the carbon dioxide that the oceans remove from the atmosphere each year.
The team "found that benthic bacteria absorbed large amounts of carbon dioxide and assimilated them into their biomass through an unknown process, which was completely unexpected," study author Andrew Sweetman said in a statement. . "Their biomass then becomes a potential food source for other deep sea animals, so we discovered a potential source of food in the deepest parts of the ocean, where we thought it was there was none. "
By writing in Oceanography and Limnology, the researchers say that benthic bacteria, rather than seabed animals, could be the "most important organisms" consuming organic waste that floats to the bottom of the ocean.
To examine the cellular processes of benthic organisms, the team analyzed sediment samples taken from an area of the eastern Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and Mexico, called the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone (CCFZ), a high seas ecosystem completely devoid of light. bioluminescence flashes and with a surprisingly rich seabed environment. The bacteria here have "dominated the consumption" of organic waste in just one or two days. When measuring their results, this equates to about 200 million tonnes of carbon dioxide that could be absorbed each year in biomass, making the region a potentially important part of the carbon cycle on the high seas.
"We found the same activity on several study sites separated by hundreds of kilometers, so we can reasonably assume that this is happening on the seabed of the East ZFCE and maybe even on the whole of it, "said Mr. Sweetman.
The CCFZ is home to more than just offshore sponges, sea anemones, shrimp and octopus. The muddy clay-like bottom is surmounted by trillions of polymetallic nodules the size of a potato, containing deposits of nickel, manganese, copper, zinc, cobalt and ## EQU1 ## 39 other minerals, according to Pew Charitable Trusts. It is a region so rich in minerals that the International Seabed Authority has awarded 16 exploration contracts to groups interested in carrying out surveys on seabed mining.
Assuming that the results can be applied to the largest concentration area of the concentration zones, the authors claim that their results could have implications for mining in this region.
"If mining activities continue in the ZCCP, they will significantly disrupt the seabed environment," Sweetman said. "Only four experiments similar to ours have been conducted in situ in the abyssal regions of the oceans, we need to know more about the biology of the deep seabed and ecology before even considering mining in the region. "
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