By Bozana Basalt The ocean is often associated with wetness, vastness and deepness. Some areas are cold, others tropical, and some are superheated. Here at Superheated Science, we crave to know what is under the ocean and how some of it is superheated. Enter, hydrothermal vents, the place where it all happens! Hydrothermal vents are underwater geysers. Geysers are simply cracks in the Earth’s crust that are the result from superheated water and steam building up and breaking through. They form on tectonic plate margins (edges of tectonic plates) where they are moving apart. This allows hot magma to rise up and fill the gap, creating underwater volcanoes and fresh crust. Ocean water filters through cracks in the ocean floor, and infiltrates deep into the crust. As it comes into contact with the rising magma, it becomes superheated and starts to dissolve minerals in the crust. Now that the ocean water is heated it breaks through the crust in a jet. As the hot water mixes with the cold ocean water, all the dissolved minerals solidify and settle to the ocean floor to form what is known as a hydrothermal vent!(2) Superheated Science Question: What do you think causes the dissolved minerals to solidify? There are two main types of hydrothermal vents: black smokers (the ones you sometimes see on TV and the most talked about ones) and white smokers. The black smokers spew out the hottest, darkest coloured mixtures (composed of seawater and various minerals), enriched in the element of sulphur. They can also spew out mixtures up to 55 metres high! The white smokers are not as intense, and they spew out light coloured mixtures enriched in silicon and calcium. (2) The water coming through hydrothermal vents can be as hot as 370°C! The water in the vents is under so much pressure that despite being really hot it doesn’t even boil!(4) Superheated Science Question: Why don't you find hydrothermal vents in lakes and rivers on continents? The coolest aspect of hydrothermal vents is that many different (and really weird) life forms that aren’t seen anywhere else on the planet! Bacteria found here don’t use sunlight to survive, rather the elements spewed from the vents as a source of energy! Creatures at the vents have special relationships with bacteria to survive, and many have adapted to the harsh conditions in strange and wonderful ways. (4) There are crabs that are able to grow bacteria on their bodies, and tube worms that use bacteria to provide sugars and food for them. (5) Check out the video below: Hydrothermal vents were discovered off the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific Ocean in 1977, and ever since then, they have fascinated scientists! (4) Being a good scientist is all about helping other scientists get their work out there! That’s why we always credit our sources of information, as should you! Cite their work to give them a smile!
(1) Gridi, 2014. "Best Images of Hydrothermal Vent Diagram". Blog. Gridgit. Accessed 20 August 2016. http://www.gridgit.com/post_hydrothermal-vent-diagram_228434/ (2) National Geographic, 2016. "Deep Sea Hydrothermal Vents". National Geographic Society. Accessed 15 August 2016. http://nationalgeographic.org/media/deep-sea-hydrothermal-vents/ (3) Unknown, n.d. "Sully Vent". Image. Wikimedia Commons. Accessed 20 August 2016. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/62/Sully_Vent.jpg (4) National Ocean Service, 2016. "What is a hydrothermal vent?". National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Accessed 15 August 2016. http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/vents.html (5) Mynott, S 2013. "Hot Stuff! Life On A Hydrothermal Vent". Blog. Saltwater Science. Accessed 15 August 2016. http://www.nature.com/scitable/blog/saltwater-science/hot_stuff_life_on_a
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