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ANCIENT WATER RESERVES found deep inside the Earth may contain surviving microscopic organisms from a prehistoric age, potentially uncovering information about early life on this planet, scientists have said.
The water, found 2.4 kilometres below the Earth’s surface, is believed to have been isolated for at least a billion years. Although experts don’t know whether anything has been living in the water during that time, tests show the water contains high levels of hydrogen and methane – which are required to sustain life.
The primordial water was discovered within the volcanic rock of the Canadian Shield, a large area of exposed rock that forms the ancient geological core of the North American continent. No source of free-flowing water has passed through the rock in at least a billion years, according to researches reporting their find in the journal Nature.
Geochemist at the University of Manchester Chris Ballentine and his team painstakingly captured water flowing through fractures in the 2.7-billion-year-old sulphide deposits in a copper and zinc mine near Timmins, Ontario, taking care to ensure it did not come into contact with mine air. “We were expecting these fluids to be possibly tens, perhaps even hundreds of millions of years of age,” he said.
The team examined the levels of certain isotopes of noble gases and determined that the water had not been exposed to the atmosphere in at least one billion years.
As well as potentially providing clues about the origins of life on Earth, the discovery may also have implications for how we search for extraterrestrial life.
“Much of the Mars crust is similar to our ancient (Canadian Shield). It’s also billions-of-years-old crystalline rock… It’s reasonable to think that same process could be going on today in the depths of Mars,” Barbara Sherwood Lollar, one of the study’s authors, told The Canadian Press.
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This billion year old water is probably still healthier then the shite they get in Roscommon at the moment.
Reminds me of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U01EK76Sy4A
Billion year old water…. I’ve older crud at the back of my fridge :) I can sell them that if it’ll help. They can have something to eat with their billion year old drink
There was me thinking the Earth was only 7000 years old. God damn, they lied to me again!!!
Science / Evolution 1 – 0 Creationism.
1-0 ?
Science is about 1000 – 1 up at this stage.
Creationism doesn’t even deserve to be mentioned in the same area as science like this.
It’s like comparing science to a children’s fairy tale.
But since you did mention it just look at the type of person who believes in that nonsense – insular, low educated, gullible mono-cultural Americans. Not to excuse them but they are victims of their circumstances.
Alot of them are educated but they seem to switch off a part of there brain and except creationism as fact
The story of creationism like many others found in the Bible I believe were probably original meant to be nothing more than morality tails with the purpose of spreading the word of Jesus in what would have been a captivating medium. Unfortunately we have lunitics who blindly ignore facts and take every word of the Bible as truth without stopping and thinking logically for themselves.
Well how do you explain the miracle that is Chelsea winning the Europa cup last night and the chmp lge last season? Now I’m off to light a candle so I can win the euro millions tomorrow night and none of yous fu&kers needin be thinkin’ ’bout done the same!!
I wonder whether it ever occurs to biblical literalists that the bible was written by men. Since, according to their own beliefs, only god is perfect and all men are flawed sinners, doesn’t it follow that the bible cannot be considered infallible? Just a thought. Up Tipp.
Dublinlad. It’s great that you bring up creationism on a story about science because I hear our journalists are widely accepting it as fact, our schools are teaching it and denying evolution and our scientists are having their funding blocked when it comes to research that might disagree with creationism …..oh no wait none of that is true so your comment is just pointless !
I would assume it does have relevance, as some people genuinely believe the world is 6,000 years old. This discovery, a long with a lot more, try’s to educate the masses and dispel any childish beliefs.
But I do apologise if I’ve touched a nerve.
@ Dublinlad —Jesus (excuse the pun) shut up about religion – there’s always one who spoils a good article
How many such people do you meet in your day to day life in Ireland ?
The only nerve you have touched is my annoyance with people who’s only interest in science is that they think it provides an opposition to religion
Well, Erm, it sort of does.
As the years go by, it’s slowly dispelling all the crazy myths we were thought as kids.
And you’d be surprised how many oul-lads you meet who think it is only 6,000 years old.
Dublin Lad. So whats your thoughts on the billion year old water???
You probably dont have any opinions on it. You are gabbing about God again!!! You my friend are OBSESSED with God. Yet u deny he exists!!!! Keep telling yourself that He aint there. You might eventually convince yourself.
God rocks!!
Hi deirdre,
Thanks for the rambling.
God doesn’t exist. You have no proof, nor will you ever. With regards to the billion year old water, Erm, well it’s water-y?
My point from the beginning was that this discovery, further dispels the great myth of ‘God’, this thing that created us all, 6000 years ago. When grown Men/Women stop believing in this nonsense, I’ll stop with the comments, deal?
I think that fair, don’t you think?
Dublin Lad. Fair enough. But when God comes a knocking. Make sure u answer.
I’ll put the kettle, have an oul’ chinwag with him, talk about the kids etc.
To explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life, and new civilisations…….do,do,do,do,do,do,do!!
To boldly go ….searching in our own back yard !!
Didn’t i report this yesterday to which an abundance of red thumbs ensued
I see you learned your lesson.
how old is water usually?
Today is Opposite Day so red thumbs is a winner – :-)
They’ve been selling that in aldi for years
Geologist here. When minerals crystallise they trap tiny bubbles of water and gas called fluid inclusions, we know the mineral deposit is 2.7 billion years old so the trapped fluid inclusion in the minerals are that old.
It appears that some of the minerals fractured and released trapped fluids called fracture fluid, it filled fissures in the rock. It’s similar to Connate Fluid, which is rather common, especially in sedimentary and evaporate rocks.
In this case they used a new technique to accurately date the fracture fluid for the first time and proved that the fluid did not come from the Earth’s surface or from the mantle, it was trapped soon after the mineral deposit formed, it’s at least 1.5 billion years old.
Boring sorry couldn’t finish reading that comment.
Yea, I gave up at geologist here :-)
Thank you David.
@Frank, yeah you want to be careful with the reading stuff…you may end up learning something.
Sorry david but ur a tool and just a keyboard warrior probably got it off wiki.
Wonder what the right wing bible bashers have to say about this?
People should stop bloody relating everything back to religion, p*ss off.
It just completely ruins the comment section
Why bring religion into this?
Same anti-bible-bashers doing the same yesterday .. They as bad as any street preacher ud see or hear
+1. Well said
There is no new or old water on earth. The water we drink today is the same water the dinosaurs drank 230 million years ago in the triassic period.
They did more to the water than just drink it.
They bought the water Dinner robin?
The water was found 2.4 kilometres below the Earth’s surface, it may of been isolated for at least a billion years. So it’s not the same as water consumed by dinosaurs.
Science win!
Also, leave religion alone, that way humanity might actually forget about it and move on to become an enlightened society.
Bottle it and put a best before date on it
Prob the most expensive water in the world. Unless someone has a bottle of Michael Jackson’s piss at home.
To say God created everything is just lazy thinking In my opinion .
But the earth is only 10.000 years old :-)
CHRISTIANITY – In the beginning there was God. God created Heaven and Earth.
ATHIESM – In the beginning there was nothing. Which exploded?????
For Gods sake will ye scientists/athiests cop on to yourselves and stop obsessing and denying Gods existence. Open your eyes and hearts.
Know God know peace. No God no peace.
Know clue….No clue…
Deirdre – with respect you are entitled to you viewpoint and I have no problem with that.
However I find your last line particularly ironic given than Christianity, and other religions, have been the source of more wars than any other cause in human history. Millions of people have been killed, massacred and maimed in the name of religion. The core message of Christianity may be about love but in human history many of its adherents showed very little of that quality to people who didn’t believe in it.
Islam on the expanding Universe -
“And the heaven We created with might, and indeed We are (its) expander.” (Quran 51:47)
Islam on the big bang theory -
“Have those who disbelieved not considered that the heavens and the earth were a joined entity, then We separated them, and made from water every living thing? Then will they not believe?” (Quran 21:30)
Read the book of Genesis, I believe you will find it contradicts itself left, right and centre.
For example god creates man: Genesis 1:27 So god created man in his own image, in the image of God he created then; male and female he created then.
Then he decided to create man again:Genesis 2:7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust off the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breathe of life; and man became a living soul.
Was he not happy the first time?
Deirdre, there is more proof to the second scenario.
I sometimes think that if religion had just been invented it would be banned in civilised society. Most religions develop as empires with the whole hierarchical structure Inherent in such structures. Empires generally seek to expand their sphere of influence and conflict is almost inevitable – driven from the top.
Deirdre, while I agree that God is a reasonable explanation as to the cause of our universe, when you come to an unrelated science story and start raving about what science should do, you simply provide ammunition for the false theory that there is a conflict between religion and science. This puts you in the same boat as the religion-obsessed anti-theists that you disagree with. Whether God created the universe or it emerged from an infinite process of expansion and collapse should make absolutely no difference to how science explores our world or the universe
ATHIESM â In the beginning there was nothing. Which exploded?????
So what’s a reasonable explanation for God then ? Answers on a postcard please
That’s easy…. when you have enough people with enough things they don’t understand then you get a construct like god. then everything unexplained must be god.
that is, until someone realises that and starts to use it as a method of control (like the end to leaps of mathematical understanding in arab nations when it was suddenly announced that math was the devil’s work) or the suppression of women (through views on things like witchcraft in medieval times becoming demonised – although there are a lot more, less obscure examples)
Deirdre, read a book other than the bible once in a while. It might do you some good.
Tony. I am completely intrigued by the current obsession with science v God. If there is any article on the Journal about the Catholic Church or God etc you will get 200-300 comments, most of the commentors suggesting that science has all the answers and firing venom at the Catholic Church and its members.
Yet when there is a science related article on the Journal there is little interest in it from the armchair scientists/catholic bashers.
Which just goes to prove that science and thirst for knowledge is not what drives the current crop of new athiests but a dislike and contempt for anything God/Catholic Church related.
God exists. The only way to know that is to stop denying He exists.
As someone who was raised in a very catholic family I disagree Deirdre. Dislike and contempt is not the reason for an increase in the current crop of atheists. I am an atheist because I read many parts of the bible in parallel to reading a lot about science, geology, evolution etc and came to the conclusion that religion / creationism / god makes no sense. I was only 11 at the time!
I believe that the spread of knowledge and free availability of it, through books and the Internet (eg this article), is causing the increase in atheism. Plus the bible doesn’t do itself any favours, with its many contradictions that is.
The Roman Catholic Church is but one version of Christianity. If it’s a universal truth why are there so many versions, each interpreting things slightly differently…………and each one the real one ?
God exists. The only way to know that is to stop denying He exists.
Given the nature of belief (you either have some degree of belief or you don’t) this is completely wrong. If I stopped denying god’s existence it would not change in any way the fact that I don’t believe in any god.
totally agree Deirdre,
– they are obsessed with religion.
& trying to prove (to themselves) that God dosen’t exist.
I tried my best to convince myself God exists ,I’d be fooling myself if I believed it .. I just don’t and you do .. No point arguing about it .
@ Zoe, I am slightly obsessed with religion yes… from a philosophical point of view religion is EXTREMELY interesting, as it is from a psychological point of view.
For example; your last sentence is one of those arrogant, self convincing comments which (almost piously) demeans the fact that people like myself don’t have belief. What do you propose atheists would do about that? Keep repeating it to ourselves that god is good and all powerful and that faith is a virtue? Keep doing that until I have convinced myself?
And really Zoe – the language used again suggests that atheists are beneath your contempt (though you still engage long enough to show just how christian you are)
If you really wanted to be christian to your fellow human then surely a comment simply stating “I believe in God and I get a lot from that – I pray that someday you get the same” would be more appropriate than “they” don’t understand but “they” are only fooling themselves type comments.
ATHIESM â In the beginning there was nothing. Which exploded?????
Zzzzzzzzzz….
God put the gravitational singularity there to test our faith.
“In the beginning was the Word”. Damned Micro$oft get into everything.
Hi Jennifer, Hydrogen and methane are not elements, they are compounds.
Partially correct, hydrogen is a chemical element whilst methane is a chemical compound made up of the elements carbon and hydrogen (CH4).
Might want to check the periodic table there… Start at number one
Um, Hydrogen IS an element….
Hi Pádraig, thanks for your comment.
Hydrogen is not a compound, it’s an element. Methane, on the other hand, is a chemical compound. I’ve clarified the report in case that’s unclear.
Hydrogen in its molecular state is not an element.
Yeah, but it’s horrible lager
@ Deirdre
“I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent.” (1 Timothy 2:12)
I’m just quoting by the way. I oppose sexism in all it’s forms.
That’s the Old Testament ,all the bad stuff has been airbrushed out in the new one..
That’s the same stuff they’re telling people to boil in Roscommon !!
Check out history of the Sumerians/Anunnaki…interesting stuff
Dont forget the nephilim!
Wonder who is going to volunteer to taste it???
Even if God does exist ,especially the one of the Bible ,I want nothing to do with this unpleasant character,jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.
Wow..!!..using big words really makes you sound intelligent. ..
Hopefully they won’t unleash some 1.5 billion year old pathogens for which we have no resistance.
I wouldn’t worry about it. Even if there are some serious viruses/bacteria in that water, the fact that they would have been separated from modern biological evolution would likely mean that they would have no impact on us as our biological systems would be far different from anything those viruses/bacteria would be used to.
Double that number.
The oldest proven objects in rock structures on earth which can be called evidence of “life” are more than double that age.
Google “stromatolites”.
Four billion years.
Only a few more centuries more before we humans kick the bucket.
A blip in time.
Nobody will miss us.
I just stopped believing in god when I realised it was dog spelt backwards. “Careful now mind the soul” said no surgeon ever!!
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