'Thriving' ecosystem found 30,000 feet undersea

Researchers discovered communities of creatures living in frigid, pitch-black waters under high pressure

Undated illustration shows the deepest chemosynthetic communities of organisms at the bottom of a deep-ocean trench
The existence of these creatures challenges 'long-standing assumptions about life's potential at extreme depths'
(Image credit: Illustration by Chinese Academy of Sciences via Reuters)

What happened

A Chinese-led team of researchers exploring 9.5 kilometers (31,000 feet) below sea level in the northwest Pacific Ocean discovered "thriving communities" of tubeworms, mollusks and other creatures living in some of the ocean's deepest trenches, as reported Wednesday in the journal Nature. Traveling in a submersible called Fendouzhe for hours at a time, the international team covered 1,500 miles of the little-explored Kuril–Kamchatka and Aleutian trenches over 40 days last summer.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.