A 2-billion-year-old rock in South Africa has yielded an incredible discovery: living microbes trapped within its sealed fractures.
  • booly@sh.itjust.works
    3·
    2 months ago

    one that eats sulfur and excretes iron, and one that eats iron and excretes sulfur

    Thermodynamically, how could these two cycles sustain metabolism? Were there other processes/species in the mix to introduce chemical compounds that had more energy contained within?

    • weariedfae@lemmy.world
      2·
      2 months ago

      I don’t recall as it was mentioned by someone in passing (and stuck with me) but I can tell you that the rocks they were in are exceptionally iron rich, which is why the mine was there.