Scientists drill longest-ever piece of Earth's mantle from underwater mountain near 'Lost City'

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Researchers have drilled the deepest - ever sampling of stone from Earth ’s blanket , sink in 0.7 naut mi ( 1.2 kilometers ) in the Mid - Atlantic Ridge , where the seafloor is overspread aside .

At this spot , which is full-bodied in hydrothermal vents , the interaction between mantle careen and seawater create chemicals that are significant for life-time . Previous efforts to practise into mantle rocks brought to the surface in the deep sea had get hold of only 659 feet ( 201 meters ) — not deeply enough to look for organisms such as heat - loving bacteria that might dwell farther down , saidGordon Southam , a geomicrobiologist at the University of Queensland in Australia and a co - author of a novel study describing the magnetic core sample .

A microscope sample showing shiny rainbow-colored layers of rock

Mantle rock recovered during IODP Expedition 399 viewed down a petrographic microscope. The sample shows a history of both mantle melting and seawater-rock interaction.

" Every time the drillers retrieve another section of rich Congress of Racial Equality , the microbiology squad collect sample to culture bacterium to determine the limits of life in this cryptical subsurface marine ecosystem , " Southam compose in an email to Live Science . " Our ultimate finish is to meliorate our reason of the origin of life and to define the potentiality for life beyond Earth . "

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The careen nucleus can also answer questions about the campaign of the mantle , saidJohan Lissenberg , a geochemist at the University of Cardiff in the U.K. and first author of the subject , release today ( Aug. 8) in the journalScience . " We know from the rock that push through in pelagic volcanoes that the pall has a lot of different ' feeling , ' " Lissenberg told Live Science . These " flavor " are depart rock-and-roll composition that come up from the recycling of tectonic plate into Earth ’s interior .

On the left, a long, skinny sample of rock. On the right, a man holds the sample up.

Core samples of mantle rocks aboard the JOIDES Resolution during IODP Expedition 399 (left). Scientist Kuan-Yu Lin (University of Delaware, USA) studies recovered mantle rocks aboard the JOIDES Resolution during IODP Expedition 399 (right).(Image credit: Lesley Anderson, Exp. 399, JRSO/IODP, Johan Lissenberg )

With the new mantle sample , " we can really examine to see what flavors have we got and on what scale do they vary , " Lissenberg suppose , " and then redo how those unlike bits of the mantlepiece melted and then how they migrate towards the Earth’s surface . "

So far , the squad has found that rather than journey vertically , melts seem to move obliquely , journey in a diagonal , inclined path toward the airfoil , Lissenberg enounce .

The core was drilled by the International Ocean Discovery Program in 2023 . Researchers aboard the JOIDES Resolution research vas drilled into the Atlantic Massif , a portion of the Mid - Atlantic Ridge where the sea floor is rive aside and mantle rock’n’roll are rising to the aerofoil . The spot drilled was near the " Lost City , " a hydrothermal release field crowd with beehive- and tower - forge structures that release methane and H into the ocean . Numerous microorganisms live off these molecules , supporting community of low invertebrates like escargot and tubeworms .

Three men point at rock samples on a table

Scientists Kuan-Yu Lin (University of Delaware, USA), Johan Lissenberg (Cardiff University, UK) and Haiyang Liu (Chinese Academy of Sciences, China) study recovered mantle rocks aboard the JOIDES Resolution during IODP Expedition 399.(Image credit: Lesley Anderson, Exp. 399, JRSO/IODP)

Mantle rock ‘n’ roll is fragile and tends to fall apart , jamming drill bits , Lissenberg sound out , but the squad was unco lucky .

" For some reason , the mantle rocks in our web site practice like a aspiration , " he allege . " It was perfectly incredible to see . "

The squad begin pulling intact plane section of up to 16.4 substructure ( 5 m ) from the muddle . In total , they retrieved a continuous record of more than 70 % of the 0.7 - statute mile core .

On the left, a gloved hand points at small rock samples. On the right, a man analyzes the samples.

Core samples of mantle rocks aboard the JOIDES Resolution during IODP Expedition 399 (left). Scientist Rémi Coltat (Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra, Spain) studies recovered mantle rocks aboard the JOIDES Resolution during IODP Expedition 399 (right).(Image credit: Lesley Anderson, Exp. 399, JRSO/IODP, Sarah Treadwell, Exp. 399, JRSO/IODP )

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A large ship in open water

The JOIDES Resolution.(Image credit: Thomas Ronge, Exp. 398, JRSO/IODP)

" We collected so many more samples than we had been expecting that we had already consumed many of our sampling collection supplies by halfway through the hostile expedition , " study co - authorWilliam Brazelton , a microbiologist at the University of Utah , wrote in a statement emailed to survive Science . The microbiology team was bang up rocks with sledgehammers well-nigh 24 hour a daytime for the two - month boring projection , he added .

" The nearly continuous recovery down to 1.2 km provide an excellent opportunity to document the relationships among microbial diversity , abundance , and activity with deepness and temperature , including temperature approach the demarcation for animation , " Brazelton said .

On the left, a large derrick tower. On the right, a ship control panel.