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    Hydrothermal Vents I - Intro

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    abdi shakur
    Hydrothermal vents are underwater springs located near volcanically active areas on the seafloor. In 1977, the submersible ALVIN discovered black smokers at hydrothermal vents, which were chimneys spewing hot, mineral-rich fluid. The vents hosted unique ecosystems with organisms that thrived in extreme conditions without sunlight by obtaining energy from chemosynthesis, a process using chemicals like hydrogen sulfide. The discovery of life in such inhospitable deep-sea environments fundamentally altered scientific understanding of the diversity and adaptability of life on Earth.

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    Hydrothermal Vents I - Intro

    Uploaded by

    abdi shakur
    27 views38 pages
    Hydrothermal vents are underwater springs located near volcanically active areas on the seafloor. In 1977, the submersible ALVIN discovered black smokers at hydrothermal vents, which were chimneys spewing hot, mineral-rich fluid. The vents hosted unique ecosystems with organisms that thrived in extreme conditions without sunlight by obtaining energy from chemosynthesis, a process using chemicals like hydrogen sulfide. The discovery of life in such inhospitable deep-sea environments fundamentally altered scientific understanding of the diversity and adaptability of life on Earth.

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    its all about hydrothermal vent,

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    hydrothermal vents I - intro

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    Hydrothermal vents are underwater springs located near volcanically active areas on the seafloor. In 1977, the submersible ALVIN discovered black smokers at hydrothermal vents, which were chimneys spewing hot, mineral-rich fluid. The vents hosted unique ecosystems with organisms that thrived in extreme conditions without sunlight by obtaining energy from chemosynthesis, a process using chemicals like hydrogen sulfide. The discovery of life in such inhospitable deep-sea environments fundamentally altered scientific understanding of the diversity and adaptability of life on Earth.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as ppt, pdf, or txt
    27 views38 pages

    Hydrothermal Vents I - Intro

    Uploaded by

    abdi shakur
    Hydrothermal vents are underwater springs located near volcanically active areas on the seafloor. In 1977, the submersible ALVIN discovered black smokers at hydrothermal vents, which were chimneys spewing hot, mineral-rich fluid. The vents hosted unique ecosystems with organisms that thrived in extreme conditions without sunlight by obtaining energy from chemosynthesis, a process using chemicals like hydrogen sulfide. The discovery of life in such inhospitable deep-sea environments fundamentally altered scientific understanding of the diversity and adaptability of life on Earth.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as ppt, pdf, or txt
    of 38

    The

    Strange
    World
    of
    Hydrothermal Vents
    Before you learn what they are,
    take a look at what they are.

    This is what a hydrothermal vent looks like.


    (Click here 2:49)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_jubgEzG9A
    hjjj
    ALVIN
    First deep sea submersible.
    Built by WHOI (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute).
    Our Vineyard neighbors!
    ALVIN was launched that day in 1977 near the Galapagos Islands, along
    a mid-ocean ridge, where scientists predicted they might find
    deep-sea hydrothermal activity.
    And they found it.
    Chimneys spewing out what looked like black smoke.
    The scientists called them “black smokers.”
    These were underwater geysers, fueled by hot magma
    chambers just below the mid-ocean ridge.
    In some places, there are so-called “white smokers”, where the plumes
    contain different minerals.
    Conditions at the vents:
     Extreme temperatures (35oF - 750oF)
    [That’s almost freezing, to 4X hotter than
    boiling water!]
     Extreme pressure (3500 lbs/ in2) [That’s
    240x the pressure we feel on the surface.]
     Poison gases, heavy metals.
     Absolutely no light.
    It was an amazing discovery.

    But more amazing than these


    remarkable vents…
    The place was teeming with
    life…

    Strange life…

    Organisms never before seen by


    humans.
    Especially obvious were countless giant tubeworms, with bright red
    heads, larger than any tubeworms observed before.
    And with the tubeworms were clams, mussels, crabs, shrimp, even a type
    of fish and a type of octopus.
    But what were these things doing down there?
    And huge amounts of them!
    Robotic arms on ALVIN allowed them to collect samples and bring them
    up to the research vessel. What they discovered next is still harder to
    believe. These were not normal clams and tubeworms at all…
    And when they dissected them, they smelled horribly – of
    rotten eggs, and looked nothing like anything they’d seen
    before…for they had no mouths, stomachs, or intestines.
    So…how did they eat? WHAT did they eat?
    Ironically, there were no bioligists on that famous trip in 1977,
    only geologists.
    Why?
    Because no one ever expected to find anything living at those depths, under
    such extreme conditions.
    Truly, these organisms were “extremophiles”.
    It took two more years until the next trip to the vents, and much help from
    biologists, including Dr. Fred Grassle, to unravel the mystery of these
    bizarre vent creatures.
    The answer?

    Once again,
    the smallest,
    but most abundant
    creatures on Earth…

    BACTERIA.
    But these are not normal bacteria.
    These bacteria were living off the
    energy of the Earth, not the
    energy of the Sun.
    Closer inspection revealed that these bacteria
    could take the chemical energy locked within
    the hydrogen sulfide (the rotten egg smell),
    and convert it to sugar - glucose.

    Much as green plants do with sunlight,


    through photosynthesis.
    But without LIGHT.

    In TOTAL DARKNESS.

    (No chlorophyll either!)


    A process previously unknown to
    all of science, which we now
    call…

    CHEMOSYNTHESIS
    Look at some more video of these vents.
    (Click for video 2:00)
    Since 1977, dozens of other hydrothermal vents have been
    discovered at mid-ocean ridges around the globe.
    The discovery of hydrothermal vents at mid-ocean
    ridges is considered one of the most important
    scientific discoveries of the century.

    They have entirely changed the way we look at life


    on Earth. And beyond.

    We shall soon learn how.


    (Click here for video 5:24)

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