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> Templeton is one of a growing number of scientists who believe that the Earth’s deep subsurface is brimming with life. By some estimates, this unexplored bios
by vanderZwan 8y ago
> Templeton is one of a growing number of scientists who believe that the Earth’s deep subsurface is brimming with life. By some estimates, this unexplored biosphere may contain anywhere from a tenth to one-half of all living matter on Earth.
I know the emphasis should be "some", but even then this is a lot of biomatter. How do they come to that number?
- Tepix 8y agoThere's a lot of space down there. From what we learn about life is that it will fill every available niche.
- Sharlin 8y agoVolume vs. surface area. The life more familiar to us is concentrated to what amounts to a 2D surface. Oceans are mostly devoid of life excluding surface waters where sunlight is available and seabed ecosystems.
- gilleain 8y agoOne of the first people to consider this was Thomas Gold (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Gold https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Gold), for example http://www.pnas.org/content/89/13/6045 http://www.pnas.org/content/89/13/6045. There's a nice review here (http://www.pnas.org/content/114/27/6895 http://www.pnas.org/content/114/27/6895) but it doesn't have much detail.