In Canada, water is found in the age of 2.4 billion years
A joint team of scientists from Canada and the United Kingdom has made a unique discovery: researchers have discovered the oldest water pockets, which were isolated deep in the earth for billions of years. Discovered water contains chemical compounds that are suitable to support life. According to the scientists, they discovered water, most likely, is the oldest on the planet, and it may contain biological samples of prehistoric life. But that's not all: found rocks, which are found under the water, almost the same as that previously were recorded on Mars. It is likely that under them on the red planet is water.
Results of the study presented in today's issue of Nature, could lead to a rethinking of what parts of the Earth are suitable for life, and can tell exactly how microbes evolve in an isolated environment. A joint research team from the Universities of Manchester, Lancaster and Toronto analyzed the ancient water reservoir, which were discovered in the mine industry, the depth of 2.4 kilometers in Ontario, Canada. Experts have established that the water is full of gases dissolved in it - hydrogen, methane, and various forms of helium isotopic , neon, argon and xenon.
According to scientists, a prehistoric water so much of the dissolved hydrogen, that it is superior in this indicator of water hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor. It is believed that the abundance of hydrogen and methane - are the primary conditions for the emergence of life on the planet. Canadian geologists believe that hydrogen and methane in the water are the result of the interaction of water and natural radioactive elements around 2.5 billion years ago. These gases are, in theory, should provide the primary energy of the bacteria, which later began to supply the sun and oxygen. "These pristine waters are quite unique. They contain all the necessary for life chemistry set, which could create a life without the intervention of the sun's heat and oxygen "says Barbara Lollar, a geologist from the University of Toronto.
"Crystals stones found in the water, according to our estimates, have an age of 2.7 billion years. Until now, no one could not assume that we have our own hands we can take that same water that has been on Earth 2.5 billion years ago . " According to her, if drilled deeper than mine, then it is likely there will be more pristine water. Belentayn Chris, a geologist at the University of Manchester, said that they were prehistoric water piping underground channels, which have deposits crystallize over age 2 7 billion years. "Our research is very interesting for anyone who would like to understand how the first microbes on the planet have evolved in isolation," he says.
Until now, researchers have found water, which would be comparable in age to the present, but only in tiny bubbles in mineral rocks and data volumes of water were insufficient to preserve his life. Now, researchers at the mine stumbled upon a real aquifer, which gives about 2 liters of water a minute old. Note that not so long ago, in South Africa, as in mine, the researchers found water, the age of which is about 2 billion years. It was found microbes.
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