Deep Sea Floor Vents

The scientists had made a fascinating discovery deep sea hydrothermal vents.

Deep sea floor vents.

They also realized that an entirely unique ecosystem including hundreds of new species existed around the vents. The water that issues from seafloor hydrothermal vents consists mostly of sea water drawn into the hydrothermal system close to the volcanic edifice through faults and. A hydrothermal vent is a lot like an underwater geyser. As shown to the right they have a rich community of species.

Seawater in hydrothermal vents may reach temperatures of over 700 fahrenheit. Deep sea hydrothermal vents form as a result of volcanic activity on the ocean floor. Deep sea vents are openings in the sea floor where hot water and nutrients spew out. Mysterious deep sea hydrothermal vents where fissures in the sea floor allow the magma in the earth s mantle to heat trapped water to high temperatures before it is pumped back into the ocean.

Water seeps through cracks in the earth s crust dissolving metals and minerals as it becomes super heated from nearby magma. This water which can reach temperatures of 400 c eventually rises back through the. Vents also occur on submarine volcanoes. However individual vents often become plugged up while new vents can appear in far flung parts of the ocean.

They wondered how deep ocean temperatures could change so drastically from near freezing to 400 c 750 f in such a short distance. Sea water seeps down into the cracks and fissures created by the spreading of the sea floor sometimes as much as two or three miles into the earth s crust. In either case the hot solution emerging into cold seawater precipitates mineral deposits that are rich in iron copper zinc and other metals. Hot seawater in hydrothermal vents does not boil because of the extreme pressure at the depths where the vents are formed.

Hydrothermal vents in the deep ocean typically form along the mid ocean ridges such as the east pacific rise and the mid atlantic ridge these are locations where two tectonic plates are diverging and new crust is being formed. Deep sea vent hydrothermal hot water vent formed on the ocean floor when seawater circulates through hot volcanic rocks often located where new oceanic crust is being formed. This graphic shows several ocean floor features on a scale from 0 35 000 feet below sea level.