
school energy&environment
earth
Life at high temperature
Rocks embedded a few kilometers below the surface are an ideal habitat too: some microorganisms live in tiny interstitial spaces of rocks which are 3,2 km beneath the subsoil and they are able to tolerate high pressure levels, radiation and extreme heat. While organisms belonging to the “Bacillius infernus” species live 2800 meters underground at a 75-degree temperature, the Staphylothermus marinus colonizes environments at the bottom of the ocean where there are temperatures that reach 115C°. On the contrary microbes belonging to the Chroococcidiopsis and Crypotendoliths families find their ideal living conditions at -15°C, but in rocks of the Antarctic continent there are others who tolerate temperatures that reach -50°C.