Water also can flow through cracks and other types of small cavities. As a result, the water contains essentially no dissolved oxygen . The low carbon-14 and dissolved oxygen contents are not found in water sources near the surface, showing that the deep well water has not been contaminated by shallower water as it is pumped to the surface. Analyses of the well water show that it contains surprisingly high amounts of dissolved hydrogen gas, H 2 and methane, CH 4 . Cultures of the water also demonstrated the presence of several types of bacteria.
Prime candidates are pyroxene and olivine , minerals rich in iron and common in basalts.
The reaction would produce iron in a more oxidized state, making minerals such as magnetite. In their scheme, the methane was made by bacteria that used the hydrogen and carbon dioxide in the water. This change in isotopic ratio is characteristic of methane produced by bacteria during the reduction of carbon dioxide, supporting their interpretation. Stevens and McKinley also devised two experiments to see if these reactions would take place and if bacteria could live in an environment consisting of oxygen-free water and rock. The Experiments T he first experiment was designed to see if hydrogen would be produced by the reaction of water with rock.