L'Atalante basin
| L'Atalante basin | |
|---|---|
  L'Atalante basin | |
| Coordinates | 35°11′N 21°25′E / 35.18°N 21.41°E |
L'Atalante basin is a
oceanographic research vessels involved in its discovery in 1993.[3] L'Atalante and its neighbors the Urania and Discovery deep hyper saline anoxic basins (DHABs) are at most 35,000 years old. They were formed by Messinian evaporite salt deposits dissolving out of the Mediterranean Ridge and collecting in abyssal depressions about 3,000 m (9,800 ft) deep.[4] L'Atalante is the smallest of the three; its surface begins at about 3,500 m (11,500 ft) below sea level.[5]
Description and biology
The L'Atalante basin's salinity is near saturation at 365 g⁄L (about 8 times that of ordinary seawater), which prevents it from mixing with the oxygenated waters above; therefore, it is completely anoxic.choanoflagellates (10%).[6]
The dark gray anoxic sediments at the bottom of L'Atalante lake are covered with a 1 cm (0.4 in) loose black layer.
metazoan species, all in the Loricifera phylum, were discovered living in the sediment, the first multicellular lifeforms known to live entirely without oxygen.[7][8]
References
- ^ PMID 18541011.
- ^ "L'ATALANTE". Marinetraffic.com.
- S2CID 130664992.
- doi:10.1111/j.1440-1738.1996.tb00163.x. Archived from the originalon 2013-01-05.
- ^ PMID 18059497.
- PMID 18826436. Archived from the originalon 2013-01-05.
- ^ Fang, Janet (6 April 2010). "Animals thrive without oxygen at sea bottom". NatureNews.
- PMID 20370908.
External links
- Stephen Ornes: Animals without oxygen, underwater, ScienceNews for Students, 27 Apr 2010
