A new study published in the Nature Geoscience magazine reports finds of abundant bacteria communities growing in the depths of the Mariana Trench. There are organisms living at densities 10 times greater than that of the Mariana Trench’s rim, which is a considerably less hostile environment for life as we know it. The bottom of the Mariana Trench is much deeper than than Mount Everest is high.

The study proves that there are certain organisms that can withstand near freezing temperatures, immense pressure, and complete darkness. Besides for anything living in London, obviously.

Dr Robert Turnewitsch, one of the authors of the paper from the Scottish Association for Marine Science said that “the deepest parts of the deep sea are certainly not dead zones.”

In 2012, scientists sent down an unnamed submersible to collect samples of the sediments that cakes the sea floor. The team analyzed the oxygen levels and discovered a large number of microbes present in the oxygen deprived waters. Turnewitsch explained:

These microbes, they respire as we do. And this oxygen consumption is an indirect measurement of the activity of the community. The amount of food down there and also the relative freshness of the material is surprisingly high – it seems to be surprisingly nutritious.

This level of material found in the Mariana Trench, and more specifically the Hadal Zone, could play a big part in the global carbon cycle and regulating the planet’s climate said Turnewitsch:

The fact that large amounts of organic matter that contain the carbon accumulate and are focused in these trenches also means they play an important role in the removal of carbon from the ocean and the overlying atmosphere.

The Hadal trenches may play a more important role in the global marine carbon cycle than was previously thought.

[Source: Smithsoniamag, BBC News]