Getty Images, photo by Sean Gallup
Getty Images, photo by Sean Gallup
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At a depth of 1.5 miles below the Earth’s surface, in a mine near Timmins, Ontario, a pocket of water was discovered that is 2.5 billion years old. According to University of Toronto Earth scientist Barbara Lollar, when the rocks of the mine were formed, Canada was the ocean floor.

The water could actually contain life forms that have survived without sunlight. The water is rich in gases like hydrogen and methane that could provide energy for microbes like vents on the ocean floor do today.  Scientists have believed for long time water can be locked in the Earth’s crust for billions of years and that it could contain living microbes. The Timmins mine water could help scientists determine how much of the Earth’s surface was covered with life billions of years ago and it may help in figuring out if life existed on other planets like Mars.

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