Electricity at the Bottom of the Ocean Is Producing Oxygen, Scientists Say

Deep Secrets 

Sunlight-photosynthesizing organisms like plants and algae have long been believed to be the Earth's original producers of oxygen.

But now, researchers have found evidence of a natural O2 factory that needs neither the Sun nor the lifeforms that harness its power. The source is a chemical reaction taking place in rocks lying on the lightless seafloor thousands of feet beneath the surface of the Pacific Ocean, releasing what the researchers have dubbed "dark oxygen."

These findings, newly published in the journal Nature Geoscience, not only upend assumptions about how oxygen first suffused the Earth's atmosphere,but could have drastic implications for the origins of life on our planet.

By Frank Landymore.

Full story at Yahoo News.