Iron Dust Rising from depths of Ocean Floor

For the scientists, discovering shiny iron in the ocean was like fishing a dry sponge out of a bath. "Everything we know about the chemical properties of iron tells us that it should be oxidized. It should be rusted," said team leader Katrina Edwards of USC.

The metal's purity has practical value. Aquatic organisms metabolize pure iron much more easily than its rusted form, Edwards said.

How much captured iron floats into surface waters remains unknown. But any that does would nourish ocean life more efficiently than the oxidized iron from regular sources.

"This is one potential mechanism of creating essentially a natural iron fertilization mechanism that's completely unknown," Edwards said.

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