In 2016 , geologists studying a Canadian mine made an incredible breakthrough . At a depth of about 3 kilometers ( 1.8 miles ) , they receive flowing body of water , which test give away to be between 1.5 billion and 2.64 billion year one-time . Having been isolated for all this metre , it was the oldest water that had been found on Earth .
“ When people think about this body of water they assume it must be some midget amount of water trapped within the rock , ” Professor Barbara Sherwood Lollar , who led the team , toldBBC News . “ But in fact it ’s very much babble powerful up out at you . These things are flowing at rate of liters per second – the volume of the body of water is much larger than anyone anticipate . ”
The team find trace that argue life had once been present within the piddle .
“ By looking at the sulphate in the weewee , we were able to see a fingerprint that ’s indicative of the presence of life . And we were able to suggest that the sign we are seeing in the fluids has to have been bring about by microbiology - and most importantly has to have been produced over a very long time scale . The microbes that produced this theme song could n’t have done it overnight , " Sherwood Lollar say . “ This has to be an indication that being have been present in these fluid on a geological timescale . ”
Without brightness level , the microbe live usingsubstratesproduced from radiation .
“ The sulphate in this ancient water is not modern sulphate from Earth’s surface water flowing down . What we ’ve found is that the sulphate , like the atomic number 1 , is in reality produced in place by reaction between the piddle and rock , " Long Li , assistant professor in the University of Alberta ’s Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences , said in apress release . " What this intend is that the chemical reaction will occur naturally and can prevail for as long as the water and rock are in striking , potentially gazillion of years . "
While the find had import for discover life elsewhere on Earth as well as out there in the Solar System , what everyone on the cyberspace always wants to know is : what does the veto drinktaste like ? Amazingly , we have an solvent for that .
“ If you ’re a geologist who works with rocks , you ’ve probablylicked a lot of rock , ” Sherwood Lollar toldCNN . While not a rock candy , she still gave the water a effort , tasting it off her finger . She was face for a piquant taste , with piquant water tending to be sometime . Much to her delight , the water was " very salty and bitter " and " much saltier than seawater . " This is n’t altogether surprising , given that it had been aged for over 2 billion years .
The paper was published inNaturein 2016 .
