Scientists uncover ancient source of oxygen that could have fueled life on early Earth

Powerful earthquakes that shook Earth some 3.8 billion years ago split open the planet's crust and allowed chemical reactions to unfold deep within the fractured rock. These reactions, fueled by seismic activity, water and near-boiling temperatures, may have provided oxygen to some of the world's earliest life forms, a new study suggests.

Notably, these temperatures overlap with the temperature range that thermophiles and hyperthermophiles — meaning heat-loving bacteria and archaea — are known to thrive in, Telling said. It's thought that the common ancestor of all life on Earth also evolved to live in scorching hot environments, and so in theory, this mysterious ancestral organism may have been influenced by the presence of hydrogen peroxide forged deep in the planet's crust.

Some of these experiments involved pulverizing rocks under specific conditions and then exposing those crushed rocks to water. This series of events mimics, on a small scale, the physical stress rocks endured in tectonically active regions of early Earth's crust, where the crust cracked open and water could then seep inside.

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