Researchers from Boston University discovered that rocks are producing “dark oxygen” in an area under exploration for deep-sea mining.

Credit: NOAA

Deep in the Pacific Ocean, in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ), rocks that are over a millions of years old, tiny sea creatures, and microbes adapted to life in the dark.

These deep-sea rocks, called polymetallic nodules, scientists from the Boston University discovered they also produce oxygen on the seafloor.

Polymetallic nodules are made of copper, nickel, cobalt, iron, and manganese.

The Metals Company calls polymetallic nodules a “battery in a rock,” and on its website states that mining them could accelerate the transition to battery-powered electric vehicles and claims mining on land would eventually no longer be necessary. 

Learn more from this article written by Jessica Colarossi, at Boston University