Dark Oxygen

Current Context : Scientists find evidence of an additional source of oxygen at 13,000 feet under the sea where the Sun don’t shine.

ABOUT DARK OXYGEN

• Oxygen produced in the absence of sunlight is called dark oxygen.
• It is produced in complete darkness thousands of feet below the ocean surface.
• On the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ), which spans 4.5 million square kilometres (1.7 million square miles) in the Pacific Ocean, there are coal-like mineral rocks, called polymetallic nodules, which typically contain manganese and iron. Scientists have found that these nodules produce oxygen without the process of photosynthesis.

Oceanic plankton, drifting plants, algae, and some other bacteria are the primary elements contributed to the production of oxygen in the ocean.