Toxic asphalt sludge is home to hardy microbes
Toxic asphalt sludge is home to hardy microbes
22 April 2010
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LIQUID asphalt is not a likely home, but hardy microbes have been found thriving in a natural lake made of the stuff. The discovery hints that alien life could exist in similar places.
Microbes are known to exist in tar pits, but it was not known if natural asphalt pools, with their more toxic composition, could harbour life.
Dirk Schulze-Makuch of Washington State University in Pullman and his team analysed samples from Pitch Lake in Trinidad - one of the planet's three known natural asphalt lakes - where hydrocarbons seep up from an oil deposit below. They identified a range of fungi, bacteria and archaea. "We found a thriving ecosystem," says Schulze-Makuch (arxiv.org/abs/1004.2047).
The organisms may feed on the asphalt, but Schulze-Makuch was surprised that they can survive with little water. It's "right at the margin" of where life is possible, he says.
Saturn's moon Titan has similar lakes of hydrocarbons, albeit in a much colder environment. "This is a good reminder that we have to keep an open mind about where life might be found in the universe," says Ralph Lorenz of NASA's Cassini mission.
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