Scientists Say they Found Oxygen Where it Shouldn’t Be. The Hunt is On for More Answers | CNN

MBL scientist Emil Ruff is quoted in this article on dark oxygen. Ruff and colleagues detected oxygen in freshwater samples tens to hundreds of meters beneath the Canadian prairie, which they reported in a study in June 2023.

A startling discovery made public in July that metallic rocks were apparently producing oxygen on the Pacific Ocean’s seabed, where no light can penetrate, was a scientific bombshell.

Initial research suggested potato-size nodules rich in metals, predominantly found 4,000 meters (13,100 feet) below the surface in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, released an electrical charge, splitting seawater into oxygen and hydrogen through electrolysis. The unprecedented natural phenomenon challenges the idea that oxygen can only be made from sunlight via photosynthesis.

Andrew Sweetman, a professor at the UK’s Scottish Association for Marine Science who was behind the find, is embarking on a three-year project to investigate the production of “dark” oxygen further. Read rest of the article here.