'They've probably been untouched for 49 million years': The New Mexico cave expanding our search for alien life

2 hours ago
Jasmin Fox-Skelly
Lars Behrendt



Silhouetted researchers Erik Trampe and Nadia Nord stand inside the Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico (Credit: Lars Behrendt)Lars Behrendt


When cave biologist Heather Barton ventured into the pitch darkness, the last thing she expected to find were organisms harnessing energy from light. This new understanding of photosynthesis in the dark, she realised, means life elsewhere in the Universe could exist in places we never thought possible.

"The wall was bright green. It was the most iridescent green you'd ever seen, and yet the microbes were living in complete darkness," says Barton, professor of geological sciences at the University of Alabama.

Beneath the deep rocky canyons of the Chihuahuan Desert in southern New Mexico, lies a network of 119 caves. The caves, part of the Carlsbad Caverns National Park, formed four to 11 million years ago due to sulphuric acid dissolving the limestone rocks.

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Almost 350,000 people visit Carlsbad cavern each year, yet most would be completely unaware that the cave is the setting to one of the most baffling scientific discoveries of the past decade.

More:
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20260130-how-deep-caves-are-transforming-our-search-for-extraterrestrial-life