#Geologist | Cees Passchier

[xtruss]

Scientists Uncover Ancient Tunnels Beneath The Earth Belonging To An Unknown Lifeform

The Discovery Challenges Current Understandings of How Life Forms Can Survive In Harsh Environments, And Opens The Door To Exploring Previously Unknown Life Forms.

— Arezki Amiri | April 29, 2025

Scientists Uncover Ancient Tunnels Beneath the Earth Belonging to an Unknown Lifeform | The Daily Galaxy — Great Discoveries Channel

In the deserts of Africa and the Middle East, scientists have uncovered unusual tiny Tubes embedded in rocks, which they suspect were created by some form of Life. These strange Micro-Burrows, found in places like Namibia, Saudi Arabia, and Oman, have baffled researchers due to their unnatural structure.

Uncovering The Mystery In The Desert

Geologist Cees Passchier and his colleagues made the surprising discovery of these tiny, parallel Tubes running through Limestone and Marble in desert regions.

The discovery was initially made in Namibia, about 15 years ago, but subsequent findings in Oman and Saudi Arabia have expanded the scope of the phenomenon.

These tubes, which are about half a millimeter wide and up to three centimeters long, appeared to be more than just geological formations.

“These Tubes Are Clearly Not The Result of A Geological Process,” Passchier Explained.

Upon closer examination, the tubes were found to be filled with a fine powder made of Calcium Carbonate, suggesting that the structure was created by microorganisms that tunneled through the rock to access the Nutrients in the marble.

The discovery was significant because no known microorganisms have been observed making such structures, and the researchers are now left to wonder whether the organisms that created them are Extinct or still exist today.

Marble from Namibia in which micro-burrows have grown in parallel arrangement downwards from a fracture filled with white calcium carbonate. Credit: Cees Passchier

The Age And Origin of The Micro-Burrows

These unusual structures, which researchers believe may be one or two million years old, were found to be incredibly precise.

The fact that they were found in Marble and Limestone, materials often considered too harsh for life to survive in, has raised questions about the Adaptability of life forms.

“We assume that they were formed in a slightly more humid climate,” Passchier said, suggesting that the organisms might have flourished during a Wetter Period in Earth’s History. Today, however, the desert environment where these structures were discovered is arid and inhospitable.

The precise nature of these burrows is still unclear. They are so tiny that they could have been made by Microorganisms, but the absence of DNA or protein traces makes it difficult to identify the life form responsible.

Despite this, the discovery is remarkable because it challenges our previous assumptions about how life can survive in extreme environments, especially in areas where no surface life is visible.

Top View of an Outcrop in Namibia Showing the Marble Penetrated by a Group of Micro-Burrows. Credit: Cees Passchier

Endolithic Microorganisms And The Global Carbon Cycle

The organisms that might have made these tunnels are thought to be Endolithic Microorganisms, which are capable of living inside rocks and extracting energy from them.

Many microorganisms, such as Fungi or bacteria, are known to inhabit extreme environments where other life cannot survive.

Passchier and his team believe that the tiny organisms that made these burrows could have played an important role in Earth’s Carbon Cycle.

If these lifeforms were involved in releasing carbon from the rock, they may have influenced the planet’s CO2 balance over millions of years.

Passchier emphasizes that further research is needed to identify these Mysterious Microorganisms, and the scientific community may soon be able to determine whether they are a known life form or something completely new.

The study of such life could have far-reaching implications, as understanding how life exists in the most inhospitable places on Earth could provide valuable insights into the search for Life on other planets.

— Reference: “Subfossil Fracture-Related Euendolithic Micro-burrows in Marble and Limestone” by Cees W. Passchier, Trudy M. Wassenaar, Nora Groschopf, Anne Jantschke and Regina Mertz-Kraus, 27 February 2025, Geomicrobiology Journal. DOI: 10.1080/01490451.2025.2467417

[sciencespies]

Historians find genius system that kept ancient world's longest water channels clean

https://sciencespies.com/humans/historians-find-genius-system-that-kept-ancient-worlds-longest-water-channels-clean/

Historians find genius system that kept ancient world's longest water channels clean

Once upon a time, the Aqueduct of Valens was one of the longest aqueduct lines in the ancient world.

By the fifth century, Constantinople’s citizens were getting their water through this channel – named after emperor Valens – that could have exceeded 500 kilometers (310 miles) in its prime. Today, scientists have finally identified a clever trick once used to keep this mighty piece of infrastructure clean.

There was a lot of maintaining to do. The canal stretched to include fresh water springs up to 120 kilometers (roughly 75 miles) away from the city. The system incorporated large masonry channels big enough to walk through, 90 large bridges, and numerous tunnels that ran up to a length of 5 kilometers (a little over 3 miles).

By collecting and studying calcium carbonate deposits, the team of researchers was able to assess the buildup of limescale in the aqueduct. The gathered samples suggested less than 30 years’ worth of limescale had formed, even though the canals were known to be operational for more than seven centuries, until at least the 1100s.

“This means the entire aqueduct must have been maintained and cleaned of deposits during the Byzantine Empire, even shortly before it ceased working,” says paleoclimatologist Gül Sürmelihindi, from the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz (JGU) in Germany.

One section of the canal in particular hinted at how this was done: a 50-kilometer (31-mile) stretch of the central portion of the aqueduct that was made up of two channels, one above the other, occasionally crossing on two-story bridges.

A dual-channel approach would have enabled engineers to clean out the aqueduct without completely stopping the water flow to Constantinople for weeks or even months – something that obviously would have caused serious supply problems.

Limescale could have eventually clogged up the slow-flowing waterways, so the researchers think thorough cleaning may have been a regular occurrence. Clay was another potential contaminant in water taken from dams. 

“It is very likely that this [dual channel] system was set up to allow for cleaning and maintenance operations,” says geologist Cees Passchier, from JGU. “It would have been a costly but practical solution.”

The entire aqueduct network was actually built in sections over the course of several centuries, and is yet another example of advanced construction carried out during the time of the Roman Empire.

While the Romans didn’t invent aqueducts, they made them bigger and more sophisticated than ever before. Sürmelihindi describes water management systems such as this one “the most groundbreaking technical achievement” of the Roman Empire.

And there were many more aqueducts and canals running into Roman cities too – some of these cities got more water in ancient times than they do now. Over 2,000 long-distance Roman aqueducts are known about, and the researchers think there are yet more to find.

“These aqueducts are mostly known for their impressive bridges, such as the Pont du Gard in southern France, which are still standing today after two millennia,” says Passchier.

“But they are most impressive because of the way problems in their construction were solved, which would be daunting even for modern engineers.”

The research has been published in Geoarchaeology.

#Humans