In Sweden, microbes have been found in ground water flowing through granite deep beneath the surface. In the Pacific Northwest, researchers have found the single-celled organisms in ground water 3,300 feet below the surface of the Columbia Base in southeastern Washington. In North Sea oil fields, organisms have been found miles down. Everywhere where there is water at or below the boiling point, life seems to be thriving, said William S. Fyfe, a geochemist at the University of Western Ontario. In the cracks, the number of microorganisms per cubic centimeter is about the same as at the Earth's surface,'' Fyfe said.
Plants use the sunlight to build complex molecules that store the energy.
Underground organisms have solved the energy problem some other way, by finding some other big complex molecules to break down for their energy. A big difference, Boston believes, is that underground organisms have the ability to slow down their metabolism to survive long periods of starvation.