Researchers analyzing 5.4-foot core samples from mud volcanoes near the Mariana Trench detected membrane lipid biomarkers in intensely alkaline (pH ≈ 12) blue serpentinite mud. Because DNA is scarce in this low-biomass, brucite-bearing material, the team used stable fats to infer active methane- and sulfate-metabolizing microbial communities beneath the seafloor. The finding supports the idea that mud-volcano environments could have been refuges or cradles for early life and demonstrates the value of lipid biomarkers for studying deep subsurface ecosystems.
Deadly Blue Mud from Mariana Trench Mud Volcanoes Yields Lipid Evidence of Life
Researchers analyzing 5.4-foot core samples from mud volcanoes near the Mariana Trench detected membrane lipid biomarkers in intensely alkaline (pH ≈ 12) blue serpentinite mud. Because DNA is scarce in this low-biomass, brucite-bearing material, the team used stable fats to infer active methane- and sulfate-metabolizing microbial communities beneath the seafloor. The finding supports the idea that mud-volcano environments could have been refuges or cradles for early life and demonstrates the value of lipid biomarkers for studying deep subsurface ecosystems.
03:09 AM, 11/18/2025Science
Life finds a way even in one of the most hostile environments on Earth: intensely alkaline, blue-hued serpentinite mud erupted from mud volcanoes near the Mariana Trench. A new study in Communications Earth & Environment reports lipid biomarker evidence indicating microbial life survives in this brucite-bearing, bleach-like material.
What the researchers found
Scientists recovered 5.4-foot (1.65 m) core samples from serpentinite mud vents and analyzed organic molecules preserved in the sediment. Because the mud is extremely alkaline (pH ≈ 12) and very low in biomass, intact DNA is scarce and difficult to detect. Instead, the team searched for membrane lipids—stable fats that persist longer than DNA and can reveal whether microbes are active or fossilized.
“We were able to detect fats,” said Palash Kumawat, lead author and Ph.D. student at the University of Bremen. These biomarkers point to microbes metabolizing methane and sulfate in an environment previously thought too harsh to sustain life.
Why it matters
The detection of microbial lipids in serpentinite mud suggests an active deep subsurface community living beneath the seafloor. Such communities are part of the broader subsurface biosphere, which some estimates place at roughly 15% of Earth’s living biomass. The findings reinforce hypotheses that ancient mud volcano environments could have provided niches where early life emerged on Earth.
Florence Schubotz, senior author of the study, noted that demonstrating life under conditions of very high pH and minimal organic carbon is important for understanding both modern subsurface ecosystems and possible settings for primordial life.
Broader context
This work follows other recent discoveries of unusual microbial-rich materials—such as a separate report earlier this year about black goo recovered from a ship’s rudder shaft—highlighting how resilient microbial life can be in extreme or unexpected places. By using lipid biomarkers, researchers gain a powerful tool for detecting life where DNA-based methods struggle.
Takeaway: The blue, bleach-like serpentinite mud near the Mariana Trench harbors lipid signs of methane- and sulfate-metabolizing microbes, expanding our understanding of the limits of life and bolstering ideas that similar settings could have hosted early life on Earth.