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.
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