Earthquakes Could Be Powering Hidden Life Deep Underground, Says China-Led Study

In a remarkable new discovery, scientists have found that earthquakes and rock fractures deep beneath the Earth’s surface may be fueling hidden microbial life, offering a fresh explanation for how life survives – and possibly even originated – in the darkest corners of our planet.

Led by Chinese scientists Zhu Jianxi and He Hongping from the Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, along with Canadian researcher Kurt Konhauser from the University of Alberta, the research was published in Science Advances on July 19. It sheds new light on what drives life in the deep biosphere, a vast underground ecosystem that contains about 95% of Earth’s prokaryotes – microscopic organisms like bacteria and archaea – and roughly one-fifth of all biomass on Earth.

An Underground Battery

The team discovered that the mechanical energy from earthquakes and tectonic movements creates chemical reactions when rocks grind or crack and come into contact with water. This interaction splits water molecules, generating hydrogen gas and reactive oxygen species like hydrogen peroxide. These substances together form what's called a “redox couple”, capable of producing up to 0.82 volts of electrical energy – more than enough to power microbial metabolism in the deep subsurface.

According to Zhu, “In the silent darkness, chemical reactions between rock and water generate energy. This process functions like a battery, creating positive and negative poles that drive electron flow – the currency of life’s metabolism.”

Fractures That Feed Life

The researchers recreated two main types of rock fracture in the lab:

• Extension fractures, which suddenly expose new rock surfaces to water,

• Shear fractures, where rocks grind continuously under pressure.

Both processes were found to split water and release energy-rich chemicals. Extension fractures, in particular, were highly effective at producing hydrogen peroxide.

One key element in this natural energy system is iron. When hydrogen peroxide oxidises ferrous iron (Fe²⁺) into ferric iron (Fe³⁺), and reactive hydrogen atoms reduce it back again, a continuous electron flow is generated – a kind of “underground power grid” that sustains microbial life and drives carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur cycles.

Could This Be the Origin of Life?

This process, the researchers suggest, might help explain how life began on Earth, especially since the deep subsurface is protected from catastrophic surface events like asteroid impacts or intense radiation. According to Zhu, “This long-overlooked radical chemistry could simultaneously explain the origins of Earth’s initial oxygen and hydrogen. It might be the intrinsic mechanism driving the early co-evolution of minerals and life.”

In fact, a moderate earthquake is capable of generating hydrogen at rates 100,000 times greater than other known geological processes such as radiolysis or serpentinisation. This energy flow could support vast colonies of chemosynthetic microbes, organisms that use chemical reactions instead of sunlight to live.

Beyond Earth: Implications for Life on Mars

The study also suggests that this mechanism isn’t limited to Earth. He Hongping believes similar processes could be happening on other planetary bodies like Mars or Saturn’s moon Enceladus. Detecting signs of redox reactions – like changes in hydrogen, methane, or iron oxidation states – in Martian rocks could point to possible subsurface life.

So next time the ground shakes from an earthquake, remember: deep below, rocks are cracking, energy is flowing, and life may be thriving in ways we’re only just beginning to understand. This hidden world beneath our feet – and potentially beneath alien worlds – could be one of the most ancient and resilient habitats in the universe.