Scientists have discovered "Dark Oxygen" around 4,000 metres below the surface of the Pacific Ocean, where no sunlight reaches.
- The term refers to oxygen found in deep-sea regions without sunlight.
- The find was made in the Clarion–Clipperton Zone of the Pacific.
- Oxygen levels were seen rising near polymetallic nodules on the seabed, which contain metals such as manganese, nickel and cobalt.
- The discovery challenges the long-held view that oxygen is produced only through photosynthesis.