Bacterial finding deep in volcano offers Mars clue

Advertiser Staff

Scientists have discovered bacteria in a hole drilled more than 4,000 feet deep in volcanic rock on the Big Island, in an environment believed to be similar to what exists on Mars and other planets.

The findings suggest that micro-organisms could conceivably be living below the surface on Mars, said Martin Fisk, a professor in the College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State University.

The study was financed by NASA, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the California Institute of Technology and Oregon State University. The results were published in the December issue of Geochemistry, Geophysics and Geosystems, a journal published by the American Geophysical Union and the Geochemical Society.

The scientists found the bacteria in core samples retrieved during a study done through the Hawai'i Scientific Drilling Program, a major scientific undertaking run by the Cal Tech, the University of California-Berkeley and the University of Hawai'i, and paid for by the National Science Foundation.

The hole began in igneous rock from Mauna Loa and eventually encountered lava from Mauna Kea at 843 feet below the surface. At 3,280 feet, the scientists discovered most of the deposits were fractured basalt glass — or hyaloclastites — which are formed when lava flowed down the volcano and spilled into the ocean.

"When we looked at some of these hyaloclastite units, we could see they had been altered and the changes were consistent with rock that has been 'eaten' by micro-organisms," Fisk said in a news release from Oregon State University.

Further tests found protein building blocks and DNA present within the basalt, and chemical mapping exercises showed phosphorus and carbon were enriched at the boundary zones between clay and basaltic glass — another sign of bacterial activity.

An electron microscopy revealed tiny spheres that looked like microbes in those same parts of the rock that contained the DNA and protein building blocks, Fisk said.

Examination of the DNA from crushed rock samples indicated it came from unusual organisms similar to ones collected from below the sea floor, from deep-sea hydrothermal vents, and from the deepest part of the ocean, the Mariana Trench.

"When you put all of those things together," Fisk said, "it is a very strong indication of the presence of micro-organisms. The evidence also points to microbes that were living deep in the Earth, and not just dead microbes that have found their way into the rocks."

The study is important, researchers said, because it provides scientists with another theory about where life may be found on other planets.