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Abstract:
There is abundant evidence that prokaryotic cells live deep beneath the sea floor. Pore water chemical data from hundreds of DSDP and ODP sites document the occurrence of subsurface catabolic activity in sediments throughout most of the deep ocean. Despite the recent advances, very little is known about the nature and activity of life in deep marine sediments. Up to the present, it remains an enigma how the large populations of prokaryotic organisms in the deep biosphere can be sustained by the extremely low energy flow in million-year old sediments.
