Description: |
For this study researchers presented observations of microbial activity in sediments at Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench in the central west Pacific, which at almost 11,000 m depth represents the deepest oceanic site on Earth. They used an autonomous micro-profiling system to assess benthic oxygen consumption rates. They concluded the elevated deposition of organic matter at Challenger Deep maintains intensified microbial activity at the extreme pressures that characterize this environment. [Source: Nature Geoscience]
|
|