The experts repeated the experiment on board the ship to confirm the phenomenon. Once again, they observed increased oxygen in the sediment samples in complete darkness.
“We found an electrical potential on the surface of the nodules that was roughly the same as an AA battery,” Sweetman described, comparing the nodules to “batteries inside rocks.”
These amazing properties may be the result of the process of electrolysis of water, which separates its molecules into hydrogen and oxygen using an electric current.
“The discovery that oxygen is produced by a process other than photosynthesis is leading us to rethink how life on Earth arose,” commented Nicholas Owens, director of SAMS.
The conventional view is that oxygen began to be produced about 3 billion years ago by cyanobacteria, leading to the evolution of more complex organisms.
“Life could have started somewhere other than Earth’s surface and near the ocean floor. Since this process is present on our planet, it could have created oxygenated habitats on other ‘ocean worlds’ such as Enceladus or Europa (moons of Saturn and Jupiter) and thus created conditions suitable for extraterrestrial life,” Sweetman suggested.
