The Most Lifeless Place in the Ocean Found


	The Most Lifeless Place in the Ocean Found

mugofcoffee

6-23-2009 7:07 AM

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://www.clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/34121909-b331-4739-a957-26c9f4ba190f/FCFCBA01-AC78-47A3-8D14-699FA1EEA792/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.livescience.com/animals/090622-emptiest-place.html" href="http://www.livescience.com/animals/090622-emptiest-place.html" style="font-size: 11px;">www.livescience.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.livescience.com/animals/090622-emptiest-place.html"><P>By <A href="http://www.livescience.com/php/contactus/author.php?r=cm">Clara Moskowitz</A></P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.livescience.com/animals/090622-emptiest-place.html"><P class="MsoNormal">
Scientists have discovered what may be the least inhabited
place in the ocean. 
</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.livescience.com/animals/090622-emptiest-place.html"><P class="MsoNormal">
The seafloor sediments in the middle of the South Pacific have
<A href="http://www.livescience.com/animals/090407-strange-microbes.html">fewer
living cells</A> than anywhere else measured, a new study found.
</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.livescience.com/animals/090622-emptiest-place.html"><P class="MsoNormal">
Oceanographer <SPAN>Steven
D’Hondt of the University of Rhode Island and colleagues took a boat out to the
<A href="http://www.livescience.com/sea/">middle of the ocean</A> and <A href="http://www.livescience.com/php/multimedia/imagedisplay/img_display.php?s=animals&c=news&l=on&pic=090622-core-02.jpg&cap=Oceanographers+David+C.+Smith%2C+Robert+Pockalny+and+Franciszek+Hasiuk+prepare+to+remove+a+sediment+core+from+the+coring+device.++Credit:+Stephanie+Forschner&title=">collected
cores</A>, or cylindrical samples of sediment, from the <A href="http://www.livescience.com/environment/090603-ocean-abyss.html">bottom of
the sea</A> about 2.5 to 3.7 miles (4 to 6 km) deep.</SPAN>
</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.livescience.com/animals/090622-emptiest-place.html"><P class="MsoNormal">
They found about 1,000 living cells in each cubic centimeter
of sediment — a tally that is roughly 1,000 times less than in other seafloor
sediments.
</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.livescience.com/animals/090622-emptiest-place.html"><P class="MsoNormal">
The area they explored in the South Pacific is what's called
a gyre, where the water is relatively still and nutrients are low. 
</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.livescience.com/animals/090622-emptiest-place.html"><P class="MsoNormal">
The sparse microbes the scientists discovered appeared to be
partially subsisting on hydrogen atoms released when radioactive elements at
the bottom of the ocean decayed and broke apart water molecules. 
</P></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/FCFCBA01-AC78-47A3-8D14-699FA1EEA792/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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