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"Dark oxygen" has always been a "mystery", and it was previously believed that the oxygen in the ocean floor mainly comes from ancient dead seaweed and other organisms in the ocean, but recently United States scientists of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have discovered a mysterious source of oxygen called "dark oxygen" in a sea area in the Pacific Ocean.
The existence of this type of oxygen, called "dark oxygen", is said to challenge the traditional understanding of the oxygen cycle in the ocean.
So what is the secret of this source called "dark oxygen"?
"Dark oxygen" on the ocean floor of the Pacific Ocean.
This phenomenon occurs in the Clarion-Clipperton zone of the Pacific Ocean, where the number of underwater flora and fauna is much lower than in other marine ecosystems, where the death and decay of plants and animals are the main source of oxygen in the ocean.
However, it is precisely because of the small number of flora and fauna here that people use the marine conditions in this area as a reference to simulate the origin of life in the early days of the earth, and many new theories about the origin of life have been born.
After a series of studies, United States related research team first discovered this phenomenon, but precisely because this phenomenon has not yet been explained, the research team also began to systematically study this phenomenon, and the researchers found that their previous ideas were actually incomplete.
We know that there is something called "polymetallic nodules", but in people's perception, this "polymetallic nodules" have been thought to be the product of ancient organisms that are at least 300 million years old, but in this study, researchers found "dark oxygen" on "polymetallic nodules".
How will "polymetallic nodules" help the production of "dark oxygen"?
The Secret Cracking of Polymetallic Nodules challenges conventional theories.
Polymetallic nodules are a substance that is affected by the origin of many mineral deposits, and we know that metal deposits on the earth were formed in very, very ancient times, so people first thought that this metal was subjected to millions or even hundreds of millions of years of wind and rain, and after a long history of accumulation, it has a metal content.
Many hypotheses were also put forward about the material formation of this metal, but in the end, the truth about the formation of this substance was finally reached through scientific methods.
Researchers have repeatedly shown that these ancient metals are indeed just the product of a long history of corrosion resistance, but they are not accumulated by external wind and rain, but are produced in a special environment called "polymetallic nodules" in the deep sea.
Polymetallic nodules here have a very, very special property, which is the release of oxygen by electrolysis of seawater.
This is of great significance to people, because it is no secret that the main understanding of oxygen in the ocean is that organisms such as seaweed convert carbon dioxide and solar energy into oxygen and release it into seawater, but we now have a relatively mature understanding of this "polymetallic nodule", but when studying this phenomenon, people find something strange.
We know that polymetallic nodules are actually a substance formed after the crystallization of many metals together, if people use this substance to make electrolyzers, then people can easily use this "dark oxygen" phenomenon to produce oxygen for people, this method is indeed human beings in the early days of human beings, but there is such a problem in research.
In the case of artificial electrolysis of seawater, the oxygen atoms in the oxygen molecule stimulate the luster produced by the electric current, but this feature has not been found in the study of "polymetallic nodules".
The significance of the dark oxygen phenomenon.
It is precisely because of this question that people think that there is no problem for humans to make this substance themselves, and the problem must lie in these ancient "polymetallic nodules", so people have answered this doubt through experimental methods.
After a long period of research and exploration, it has been discovered that there is a clear difference between these ancient "polymetallic nodules" and man-made "polymetallic nodules", that is, the oxygen released by human electrolysis is mixed with hydrogen after electrolysis and will not react after the electrolysis.
However, in the ancient "polymetallic nodules", it is possible to delay the reaction after the end of electrolysis, which leads to great doubts.
The mystery was eventually found at a depth of 10,000 meters, where the energy was low enough for the "polymetallic nodules" to react with hydrogen after the end of electrolysis.
After exploring this phenomenon, people have more understanding of this "dark oxygen" phenomenon, first of all, this phenomenon shows that some traditional perceptions of the ocean oxygen cycle may be wrong, and it is possible that the oxygen released by marine organisms is not the only source of oxygen.
This has the obvious benefit of expanding the scope of research from living marine ecosystems to inanimate marine ecosystems, which may be even more important to humanity because the long treasure hunt is done in these inanimate ecosystems.
Secondly, this phenomenon of "dark oxygen" is also of great significance for the assessment of deep-sea ecosystems and deep-sea mining activities.
For many years, the deep sea has been considered to be relatively untouched by biological activities, and this conclusion has been reached despite the fact that deep-sea ecosystems have been surveyed in these places.
Now, with this discovery, there is an opportunity to reassess deep-sea ecosystems, and deep-sea mining can be carried out without sticking to the original ecological protection standards, but with more flexibility and choice.
epilogue
However, it is worth noting that people must be very, very careful when carrying out deep-sea mining activities, after all, deep-sea ecosystems have not been controlled and modified by humans, and human beings must be very cautious when carrying out deep-sea mining activities, and must be systematically evaluated by scientific research, so that both harvest and loss will be greatly reduced.