FazTimes media: In the very deepest and darkest parts of our planet—far below the surface where no sunlight ever reaches—scientists have found something amazing: life that is growing and thriving in places that were once thought to be completely uninhabitable. A new study from around the world, led by researchers from China and Canada, shows that earthquakes and the movement of Earth’s crust might be helping tiny underground organisms get the energy they need to live.

This discovery gives us a new way to understand how life started on Earth—and maybe even on other planets.

The research, which was published on July 19 in the journal Science Advances, was led by Professor Zhu Jianxi and Professor He Hongping from the Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry (GIG), part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Professor Kurt Konhauser from the University of Alberta, Canada.

According to Al Jazeera, the study offers solid proof that seismic activity and tectonic shifts could be the key source of energy for the huge underground system of microbial life that exists deep beneath our feet.

Life in the Dark: A Radical Idea Comes to Light

Until not too long ago, most scientists thought that life couldn’t exist deep underground without sunlight or food from the surface. But new research has changed that idea. Deep inside the Earth—sometimes as deep as five kilometers—scientists have discovered a huge and lively world of microbes.

This hidden biosphere is thought to hold about 95% of all prokaryotic life on Earth and accounts for around one-fifth of the planet’s total living matter. These organisms don’t need light to survive, they can handle extreme heat and pressure, and they don’t eat anything we’d normally think of as food. Therefore, what keeps them alive?

Earthquakes can act like huge underground batteries, according to a new study. When rocks deep beneath the surface break or slide against each other during an earthquake, they release a lot of energy. This breaking process splits the rocks, showing new mineral surfaces to water. When these rocks mix with water, chemical reactions happen. These reactions create hydrogen gas and other chemicals like hydrogen peroxide.

Professor Zhu Jianxi explained, “These reactions are like charging a battery underground. They make positive and negative parts that let electrons flow, which is important for life.”

This electron flow helps a special kind of life: chemosynthetic microbes.
These microbes get energy from chemicals, not from sunlight.

The research team used quartz, which is a common mineral, to make two kinds of rock breaks in the lab:

Rapid rock fragmentation, known as extension fractures, releases a sudden surge of chemical energy. Shear fractures occur when rocks slowly rub against each other, producing a continuous supply of active chemicals.

Both kinds of breaks made enough chemical energy to support tiny microbes.

The energy from just one average earthquake is 100,000 times more powerful than other deep energy sources like radiolysis or serpentinization. At the same time, hydrogen from breaking rocks turns ferric iron back into ferrous iron. This process continues indefinitely, forming a natural "underground power grid" that provides energy to microbes. Without this, these microbes wouldn't be able to live.

What This Means for the Origins of Life

It's intriguing how this research might help us understand how life began on Earth and where we might find it in our solar system. BBC News reported that in 2023, Zhu and his team discovered that when minerals are under pressure, they can release oxygen from their surfaces.

A Plan for Life After Earth?

Professor He Hongping explained, “The process of converting mechanical energy into chemical energy isn’t just something that happens on Earth. It could also happen on Mars or icy moons like Enceladus.”

Enceladus, a small moon of Saturn, is already considered one of the top places to look for life outside Earth.

It has a liquid ocean beneath its ice and shows signs of geological activity. If rocks are interacting with water under their icy surface, it might support chemosynthetic life, similar to the life we find deep beneath Earth’s surface.

According to him, finding certain “redox signals”—like changes in hydrogen, methane, or iron levels—could be the key to finding life beyond our planet.

Conclusion: The Tremors of Life

It's not just about rocks moving or faults sliding—it could also be the start of something amazing happening in a hidden world deep underground. As scientists keep looking into these dark, high-pressure areas, they show us something important: life, in its strongest and most puzzling forms, can survive even in places we thought were empty.

And maybe one day, when humans land on Mars or send robots to explore the icy moons of Saturn, we'll discover that the same kind of life is there too—fueled by tremors in the dark.

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