Deep Sea Floor Vents

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.

Deep sea floor vents.

Deep sea vents are openings in the sea floor where hot water and nutrients spew out. 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. This water which can reach temperatures of 400 c eventually rises back through the. A hydrothermal vent is a lot like an underwater geyser.

However individual vents often become plugged up while new vents can appear in far flung parts of the ocean. In either case the hot solution emerging into cold seawater precipitates mineral deposits that are rich in iron copper zinc and other metals. Some features like canyons and seamounts might look familiar while others such as hydrothermal vents and methane seeps are unique to the deep. 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.

They also realized that an entirely unique ecosystem including hundreds of new species existed around the vents. 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. This graphic shows several ocean floor features on a scale from 0 35 000 feet below sea level. Deep sea hydrothermal vents form as a result of volcanic activity on the ocean floor.

As the water comes into contact with the veins and channels of superheated molten magma the sea water is superheated. The cold seawater is heated by hot magma and reemerges to form the vents. Water seeps through cracks in the earth s crust dissolving metals and minerals as it becomes super heated from nearby magma. The scientists had made a fascinating discovery deep sea hydrothermal vents.

As shown to the right they have a rich community of species. Hot seawater in hydrothermal vents does not boil because of the extreme pressure at the depths where the vents are formed. Seawater in hydrothermal vents may reach temperatures of over 700 fahrenheit.