Hidden World Beneath Our Feet: Scientistsโ Discoverโ Vast “Underground Galapagos“
Jakarta, Indonesia โ- Beneath โคthe Earth’sโข surface, โkilometers โคdown, liesโฃ a hidden world โฃteeming with life. An astonishingly vast ecosystem of microorganisms, estimated toโค contain billions upon billions of organisms, is now revealing its secrets toโฃ scientists, and the scale of โคfinding is breathtaking.This subterraneanโค realm, dubbed โคthe “Undergroundโ Galapagos” โคdue to its remarkable โฃgenetic diversity, may rival – or even surpass -โข the biodiversity found on the planet’s surface.Initial calculations, presented at the 2018 Annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union, revealed the sheer magnitude โof this hidden biosphere,โฃ far exceeding previous โexpectations.
Researchers now estimateโข that approximately 70% of all microbes on Earth reside underground.Collectively, these microscopic organisms represent a staggeringโ 15 to 23 billion tons โฃof carbon – a biomass hundreds ofโ times โgreater than the total massโฃ of all humans.
While explorationโ is still in its early stages, preliminary findingsโค suggest โคthe genetic richness of โlife below โขthe surface is comparableโ to,โฃ and potentially โฃgreaterโฃ than, that found above.โค This hidden world isn’t populated by large creatures; instead,it’s dominated by bacteria and their relatives,Archaea. โคThough,
