With only 30 minutes remaining in her submersible dive, geochemist Mengran Du and her team ventured into the deep trenches between Russia and Alaska. At such extreme depths, sunlight is absent for kilometers, leading scientists to believe that life could not exist there.
However, Du's exploration revealed a remarkable ecosystem spanning 2,500 kilometers, populated by clams and tubeworms. These organisms thrive at depths of 9,533 meters, relying on methane and hydrogen sulfide seeping from the seafloor as their energy source.
This discovery challenges long-held assumptions about the limits of life in extreme environments and opens new avenues for research into deep-sea ecosystems.