Soil beneath ocean found to harbor long lived bacteria, fungi and viruses

(Phys.org) —Researchers with the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) have presented findings at this year's Goldschmidt conference. They report having found bacteria, fungi and viruses living a mile and a half beneath the ocean floor—such specimens, they report, appear to be millions of years old and reproduce only every 10,000 years.