Life - It Gets Everywhere! 

A correspondent brought THIS ARTICLE to my attention. It concerns the fact that life is found in the most unexpected places. Places where there is no apparent energy source. Places mentioned are deep underground in mines and in abyssal sediments.

To cut a (VERY) long story short the energy source is hydrogen. And this is derived from the breakdown of water by radioactivity - electrolysis without electrodes.

Bacteria found deep within a gold mine in South Africa that subsist on hydrogen and sulfate. 

G. Wanger & G. Southam

The article goes into some detail about how this was discovered and proved to be a viable energy source. - well worth reading.