Researchers Find 689 Fungi Species 1,640 Feet Below Great Lakes, Recasting Deep-Life Limits
Updated
Updated · Gizmodo · Jul 31
Researchers Find 689 Fungi Species 1,640 Feet Below Great Lakes, Recasting Deep-Life Limits
3 articles · Updated · Gizmodo · Jul 31
Summary
689 fungi species—including 13 newly described ones—were identified in water drawn from the Antrim Shale beneath the Great Lakes, alongside worms and tardigrades that point to a functioning underground ecosystem.
650- to 1,640-foot gas wells tapped water last connected to the surface about 11,000 years ago, suggesting Ice Age melt carried microbes deep into fractured rock where they survived on trapped organic material.
A single drop held about 250 fungal cells, roughly comparable to ocean water, indicating the deep subsurface may contain far more fungal biomass and diversity than global estimates now capture.
The findings also suggest fungi and microbes may turn ancient underground carbon into gas, meaning subsurface carbon stores could be more biologically active than sequestration models assume.