Shown in its first ever photo, one of the world's deepest undersea volcanic vents erupts earlier this year.
Posted on 04/12/2010 2:43:55 PM PDT by JoeProBono
Three miles (five kilometers) below the surface of the Caribbean Sea (map), great volcanic chimneys gush subterranean water hot enough to melt lead.
Found via robotic submersibles on April 6, these two-story-tall "black smokers" are the world's deepest known hydrothermal vents, scientists announced from aboard a research ship Sunday.
"It was like wandering across the surface of another world," geochemist Bramley Murton, speaking in a press statement, said of steering a submersible around the record-breaking volcanic vents.
"The rainbow hues of the mineral spires and the fluorescent blues of the microbial mats covering them were like nothing I had ever seen before," said Murton, who, like the rest of the team, works with the U.K.'s National Oceanography Centre.
Adapted to extreme heat, darkness, and lack of oxygen, the creatures dwelling at the newfound volcanic vents may be akin to Earth's earliest life-forms or even, some speculate, indicative of what life might be like on other planets. But the team is keeping details about the creatures a mystery, at least until they've been thoroughly studied.
Undersea Volcanic Vents May Be "Lost World"
The team discovered the deep black smokers during an ongoing expedition to the Cayman Trough aboard the research ship James Cook.
Shown in its first ever photo, one of the world's deepest undersea volcanic vents erupts earlier this year.
Anthropogenic Volcanoes.
“Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn”
Translated from a recent speech by Obama’s new Ocean Czar, Fidel Nyarlathotep, it reads, “In his house at R’lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming...”
/mark
“The Neptune Factor” was a good movie along these lines also.
Somebody could clean up making a really good HP Lovecraft movie.
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Thanks KoRn! I'm part German, which starts with "germ" -- no wonder I prefer a warmer climate. |
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Burges Shale critters extinct? Just not found?
Caudal it or scorn it!
Another dilemma!
Would the Cayman Trench be on the same fault that set off the Haiti earthquake?
Cool! Drop algore off down there with a snorkel and mask to investigate.
Wow, the geology in that region is really screwed up. I'd never heard of the Gonave Microplate until I started Googling this. The Cayman Trench is the west end of the Microplate, if I understand this.
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