The massive hydrothermal field 8,366 feet below the surface of the Pacific Ocean resembles a candlestick

Scientists discovered a new hydrothermal field 8,366 feet beneath the Pacific Ocean covering an area the size of a football field that could help them better understand how volcanic activity has affected life in Earth’s oceans.

These deep-sea vents are located in places where activity from the planet’s crust causes tectonic plates to split and form new seafloor rock that contains cracks where seawater seeps – similar to what hot springs do on land, these vents eject mineral-rich fluids. heated to a high temperature.

A team of researchers from Lehigh University discovered this field about 200 miles off the coast of Mexico and have stated that it will help to advance our understanding of how marine life is – and continues to be – affected by volcanic eruptions.

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‘The mapping work provides a detailed picture of the ocean floor so we can monitor and measure changes that occur when the next volcanic eruption occurs,’ said one of the researchers. Photo: The hydrothermal chimney in the YBW-Sentry vent looks like a candle holder

‘We were surprised that not only is this field highly active, but that it is also wider and its origin temperature hotter than any other known hydrothermal vent field along this part of East Pacific Rise that has been studied over the last 30 years,’ Daniel Fornari, a marine geologist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and co-author of the paper, said in a statement.

The researchers were able to collect the fluids from the black chimney vents and analyze their geochemical characteristics, which can indicate the temperature at which the liquid formed.

Hotter temperatures can sometimes be a sign of an impending eruption.

The Lehigh University team also installed a self-recording liquid temperature recorder to provide measurements every ten minutes over a two-year time period in an active ventilation chimney.

Seawater in hydrothermal vents can reach temperatures of over 700 degrees Fahrenheit. Photo: The sulfide structure in the field of the YBW-Sentry pit has yellow iron coloring, and the Bythograeid crab host is white

‘New vent fields can grow hydrothermal ecosystems that recover after volcanic eruptions,’ explains Santiago Herrera, co-author of the study. Photo: Seawater seeps through cracks in the ocean floor, is heated by magma chambers, becomes buoyant and is expelled like spring water, creating clumps of ‘chemical soup’

‘I hope that our study will motivate future research efforts to target off-axis mapping of areas along the crest of the global mid-ocean ridge to better quantify off-axis versus on-axis hydrothermal ventilation rates.’ Photo: Jason’s remotely operated vehicle (ROV) samples a 368°C black smoker liquid using a titanium syringe-style sampler for analysis

These measurements are a way to track changes in ventilation.

“The mapping work provides a detailed picture of the ocean floor so we can monitor and measure changes that occur when the next volcanic eruption occurs along this part of the axis of the East Pacific Rise ridge,” said Jill McDermott, chemical oceanographer and faculty member in the Lehigh Department of Earth Sciences. and University Environment, in a statement.

The investigators had nine instrumented vents across the study area.

Seawater in hydrothermal vents can reach temperatures of over 700 degrees Fahrenheit.

‘New ventilation fields can grow hydrothermal ecosystems that recover after volcanic eruptions,’ explains Santiago Herrera, co-author who is a biological oceanographer and faculty member in Lehigh University’s Department of Biological Sciences.

‘Much remains to be discovered about deep-sea vents along the global mid-ocean ridge, both in terms of their location and their geological, geochemical and biological characteristics,’ adds McDermott.

‘I hope that our study will motivate future research efforts to target off-axis mapping of areas along the crest of the global mid-ocean ridge to better quantify off-axis versus on-axis hydrothermal ventilation rates.’

The researchers published their work July 18 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Hydrothermal vents, such as the one pictured above, can often be home to resilient organisms that live close by – at least until the magma chambers of nearby underwater volcanoes erupt.

Hydrothermal vents can also house live animal communities like this anemone, pictured above, which lives in ‘permanent darkness’ on the ocean floor.

Gakkel Ridge (pictured above), located in a remote part of the Arctic between Greenland and Siberia, is where researchers first found evidence of hydrothermal vents in 2001.

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