![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
||||||
A "black smoker" in the East Pacific, discovered by the submersible Alvin. |
||||||
Because so much metal is spewed out, hydrothermal vents have been responsible for many of the world's richest ore deposits, like the copper ores mined on the island of Cyprus in the Mediterranean Sea. Indeed, many economic geologists have suggested that active vents -- not just the sites of former ones -- be mined for their massive metallic deposits, although their remote locations might make that difficult. The vents are also remarkable for their unusual, diverse life forms, like the tube worms, giant clams, and long-necked barnacles. Life is possible at the hydrothermal vent systems because of a unique type of bacteria that forms the basis of the food chain there. The bacteria harness energy not from the rays of the sun -- no sunlight reaches these great depths -- but by metabolizing the large amounts of sulfur in the hot springs. Some researchers believe that life on Earth began in extreme environments such as these submarine hydrothermal vents. If hydrothermal vents are now (or once were) present on other worlds -- Europa, Jupiter's ice-covered moon, is one possibility, as is Mars, where minerals that on Earth are commonly formed at hydrothermal vents were just discovered -- life might very well have arisen there too. |
||||||
Photo: Dudley Foster. Courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey. |
||||||
Article: The Earth at Work | Sidebar One: Probing the Depths | Sidebar Two: "Black Smokers" | Sidebar Three: Ring of Fire | ANIMATION |
||||||