TAMPA, FLORIDA — New research has revealed a rich subterranean ecosystem within the Earth almost twice the size of the world's oceans.<br /><br />The Guardian reports that Deep Carbon Observatory scientists made boreholes over 5 kilometers deep, and drilled 2.5 kilometers below the seabed to find an underground biosphere containing 'deep life' microbes that may have persisted for thousands or millions of years.<br /><br />These previously unknown lifeforms thrived despite extreme temperature and pressure. They reportedly fed on energy from rocks, and existed in a slow-motion, zombie-like state.<br /><br />The results suggest that 70% of the Earth's bacteria and archaea exist underground, amounting to between 15 and 23 million tonnes of carbon.<br /><br />Among them are barbed Altiarchaealis that live in sulphuric springs and Geogemma barossii, a single-celled organism found in hydrothermal vents on the seafloor, whose cells grow and replicate at 250 degrees Fahrenheit.<br /><br />Researchers have been trying to determine the boundary where life cannot exist, but the deeper they dig, the more life they find.<br /><br />Though there is a temperature maximum set at 251 degrees Fahrenheit, scientists think further exploration using more sophisticated instruments might break that record.
