For a long time, researchers have proposed theories about dark matter, which is believed to keep galaxies together through its gravitational pull. The mystery of dark matter continues, and now researchers have discovered what they call “dark oxygen” on the seafloor.

It is published in Nature Geoscience, a journalist who Studies the planet research, shows oxygen discharged from mineral stores 4,000 meters (around 13,000 feet) beneath the sea’s surface on the ocean bottom of the Pacific Sea’s Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ). The depth is close to around 50% of the length of the tallest pinnacle of Mount Everest.

The study by Andrew Sweetman, professor at the Scottish Relationship for Sea Life Science (SAMS)  gives proof that there’s an extra oxygen source in the world separated from the oxygen-delivered from photosynthesis.

Up to this point, it is known that the photosynthesis process produces oxygen by plants and algae for humans and other animals.

So the question arises, what importance does this new dark oxygen reach? What questions does this raise about the origin of life on Earth?

What is Dark Oxygen?

The Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ) spans 4.5 million square kilometers (1.7 million square miles) in the Pacific Ocean. It contains coal-like mineral rocks called polymetallic nodules, which typically consist of manganese and iron. Researchers have discovered that these nodules generate oxygen without the need for photosynthesis.

The exploration reveals insight into where life started. There may have been another oxygen source in the past, and life that breathes oxygen might have existed before photosynthesis. If it’s happening on our planet, might it occur on other planets too?” Sweetman expressed in a SAMS video.

How did scientists find Dark Oxygen?

The revelation comes over 10 years after the source of Dark oxygen itself was found. The 2013 exploration mission was pointed toward understanding how much oxygen was consumed by living beings on the CCZ ocean bottom.

Landers, mechanical stages that can fast drop to the lower part of the ocean bottom, were sent down 4,000 meters (13,000 feet) to follow how oxygen levels in the water diminished over with depth. Many experiments have been done but research is yet to confirm.

However, Sweetman and his team’s research led them to believe that some minerals do not require sunlight for the synthesis process.

 “The fact that we’ve got another source of oxygen on the planet other than photosynthesis has consequences and implications that are utterly profound,” Owens said

The discovery of dark oxygen in the depths of the ocean opens the secrets of how life started on The planet.