What's the most plausible way to bio-engineer an underground ecosystem, without photosynthesis, to produce oxygen?

Here's the full question:

What's the most plausible way to bio-engineer an underground ecosystem, without using photosynthesis, so a mine system would not need an active air exchange system? (It was over 150 characters, again.)

So, inspired by Jim2B's response here:

How low underground could you go?

Assume there's a vast network of mines over hundreds, if not thousands, of square kilometers, and ranging from 5 to 11 km in depth. The upper third of the mine is mostly dry, but the middle and lower thirds have met underground springs. When the mine is eventually abandoned and the miners stop pumping the water out, it will eventually seep down into the lowest portion of the mine and become something like an underground geyser in the vertical shafts that reach these depths.

What's the most plausible and efficient way to create an ecosystem that will absorb the carbon dioxide exhaled by miners and convert it to breathable oxygen?

The two, related, caveats are:

1. No photosynthesis. In the same way the ecosystem is alleviating the need for the energy used by active air exchange, it cannot be reliant on energy used to power light sources for photosynthesis.

2. It has to be nearly independent of the miners to sustain itself. If the mine suddenly closed, the ecosystem would be capable to adapting to the loss of whatever materials the miners were bringing to/removing from the area, and continue living, collectively, on its own.

posted over 6 years ago

KernelOfChaos‭

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