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Life Deep Down Under

Fungal colonies grow on culture dishes inoculated with samples of sediments extracted from hundreds of feet beneath the seafloor. WHOI microbiologist Ginny Edgcomb explores what life forms may be living deep within Earth’s crust and other extreme environments. In January 2016, Edgcomb was in the Indian Ocean aboard the drillship JOIDES Resolution, on the first of a multi-part mission to drill down to the Moho, the transition between Earth’s crust and mantle. The drill hole also provides access to Earth’s deep biosphere—this dish yielded fungi that Edgcomb and colleagues will analyze to determine whether it is an unknown species. (Photo by Tom Kleindinst, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)