In 2016, a Canadian team of mining prospectors discovered the world’s oldest pool of water deep inside a mine in Canada. Located at a depth of about 3 kilometers, the water has an impressive history of 2 billion years.
The discovery pushed back the history of the oldest known water by at least 500 million years. The previous record was the pool of water found in the same mine in 2013 by the same team, at a depth of approximately 2.5 kilometers. In addition, this mine stands out as the deepest basal metal mine in the world, which goes deeper into the earth’s crust in search of copper, zinc and silver.
As the miners dug deeper, the researchers had the opportunity to explore the mine further. They analyzed the water found by examining the gases trapped inside. Gases like helium and xenon can show how old the water is, as they can become trapped in water trapped in rock cracks.
Professor Barbara Sherwood Lollar, who presented the discovery, said in an interview with BBC News, “When people think of this water, they think there must be a small amount of water trapped in the rock,” he said. makes up.”
Also, when the researchers analyzed the liquid, they found traces of life in it. Although they have not yet found real living bacteria, what they have discovered can actually be described as the fingerprint of life. That is, they propose the conclusion that there is a type of microbiology found in water that lives for a very long time.
The ability of a creature to survive and indeed thrive in ancient, deep-seated water has some important consequences. In this way, we can not only learn about life on Earth billions of years ago, but also get clues that can help in the search for extraterrestrial life. Although there are no longer rivers on the Martian surface, there are still pockets of water and ice below the surface. These are not as deep as the water discovered in Canada, and it may be possible that these pockets provide the conditions for microorganisms to live…
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