Study: Microbes could influence Earth's geological processes as much as volcanoes
4 institutional releases
Published in Nature · View the paper (DOI)
Researchers found that microbes consume and trap carbon sinking into the trench off Costa Rica's Pacific coast, potentially influencing geological processes on similar scales as volcanoes. This discovery has important implications for understanding carbon movement from Earth's surface into its interior over geological timescales.
Coverage from 4 institutions
- Study: Microbes could influence Earth's geological processes as much as volcanoes University of Tennessee at Knoxville · Apr 24, 2019 · first to report
- Microbes may act as gatekeepers of Earth's deep carbon University of Oxford · Apr 24, 2019
- Major deep carbon sink linked to microbes found near volcano chains Rutgers University · Apr 24, 2019
- Discovery of microbial activity in carbon sinking as a gatekeeper of Earth's deep carbon Tokyo Institute of Technology · May 7, 2019