DISCOVERY POINTS TO POSSIBLE LIFE ON OUTER
PLANETS
Most ecosystems on Earth derive their energy, directly or
indirectly, from the sun -- the process called photosynthesis.
However, as of last year, another community type, chemosynthetic, was
discovered in the ocean floor sediment of the Gulf of Mexico.
Deriving energy from chemical sources, such as methane gas and
hydrogen sulfate, normally toxic to marine life, the communities use
these sources to fuel life.
While scientists have yet to publicly address the implications of
this finding, it is known that some of the outer planets in our solar
system contain the same chemical sources - in gaseous form, in
Jupiter's atmosphere, and the possible liquid ethane or methane
lakes/oceans on the surface of Saturn's largest moon, Titan.
Through the efforts of researchers, it is now becoming clear that
the chemosynthetic community (in the Gulf) also contains gas
hydrates, which are natural methane-water ices. Formed under high
pressure and low temperature, gas hydrate is a crystalline solid
composed of methane molecules enveloped by water molecules.
In November of 1997, Penn State researchers discovered a new
species of worm living on the surface of the methane gas hydrate
mounds. They had expected to find only bacteria living on the mounds.
These pink worms, dubbed 'ice worms', were about 1" to 2" in length,
and apparently sculpted the gas hydrate surface by the hundreds. It
is not yet known to what extent the worms use the mounds for
protection or nutrition, but at present are the only animals known to
live in this habitat.
The discovery does lead one to wonder, however, if other
chemosynthetic communities are thriving on the outer planets, or on
one of their moons, in our own solar system.
LIFE THRIVES IN THE DARKNESS OF
CAVES
email to: ptp@primenet.com
In early January, of this year, Louise Hose, a Westminster
College geology professor and avid cave explorer, returned to
southern Mexico to further investigate the Cueva de Villa Luz (Cave
of the Lighted House).
It was in this cave, in early '97, that she discovered a slimy
white mass of material thought to be bacteria. It wasn't.
It ended up being microbial veils, colonies of microbial life,
rarely found on this planet so far.
Unlike many lifeforms, such as plants, that use photosynthesis,
these microbes oxidize sulfur as their source of energy and life. The
veils thrive in total darkness and produce sulfuric acid - "as strong
as battery acid", according to a Westminster College press release -
in a degree of acidity rare in nature.
Certain parallels can be drawn between this discovery, and that
of marine life dwelling in the total darkness of great oceans depths,
sustained on the heat and chemical nutrients released from underwater
volcanic vents.
Once again, the discovery of a chemosynthetic community points to
the possibility for life where the sun rarely, if ever, reaches. On
Earth, and perhaps other planets in our own solar system.
Facts on Jupiter, Saturn, and the planets' moons: www.nasa.gov
All facts in second article from a Westminster College press
release.
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