There are still many unexplored frontiers on our planet. The depths of the ocean, the frozen poles, and uncharted islands, to name a few. As it turns out, however, we didn’t actually need to look that hard for new places to explore; there’s one right beneath our feet.
A massive team of 1,200 scientists from 52 different countries are about to begin what may be one of the largest scientific undertakings in Earth’s history. “Deep life” studies have revealed, at least 5,000 meters beneath the Earth’s crust (at least 1,300 meters deeper than most oceans, by the way), a flourishing ecosystem home to 70% of the Earth’s natural bacteria and archaea. Despite a complete lack of light and heat, these micro-organisms are thriving in sulphuric springs, with their total mass projected around 23 billion tonnes, a notable high score compared to the cumulative weight of humanity.
The scientists will be using advanced drilling equipment to bore into the Earth’s crust, as well as new microscopes that can detect life even at incredibly minute levels. So far, no lower limit to the crust has been found; the hole goes deeper and deeper, with new life constantly popping up. The study of this “underworld” is set to last for ten years, with findings presented to the American Geophysical Union on the ninth.
