Discovery of “Dark Oxygen” Supposedly Sheds Light on the Origins of Life

In total darkness, without the help of any other living organisms, metallic nodules on the ocean floor produce their own oxygen (“dark oxygen”) through a process called seawater electrolysis. In this process, seawater is split into oxygen and hydrogen through an electric charge.

The discovery challenges the long-held evolutionary belief that earth’s oxygen originated primarily from photosynthetic organisms, which require light. The discovery of “dark oxygen” from metallic nodules poses questions for whether aerobic life could have begun prior to the entrance of photosynthetic organisms in evolution’s timeframe.

While oxygen is a building block for life, it does not equal life. Where did the machinery originate in the first cells to use oxygen? An ingenious design had to originate with a genius Designer.

Furthermore, we cannot base our understanding of the past on what we see in the present. These nodules formed on the ocean floor in recent history, since the global, catastrophic flood which drastically reshaped the earth. Despite evolutionists’ wishful thinking, these nodules are not evidence for life originating from non-life—but they are a nod to the Creator.

This article is from Answers magazine, January–March, 2025, p. 17.