Recently Revealed

Far from sunlight, sulfur supports strange life forms

In 1977 geologists exploring fractures in the ocean floor found more than they had anticipated. Large, odd-looking animals were surviving on the sunless, otherwise barren sea floor by what turned out to be an entirely unknown mode of life.

Vent food web depends on sulfur--not sunlight.

Bacteria convert chemicals (from the sulfur-rich fluid spewed out of vents) to energy, in a process called chemosynthesis.

Other animals eat bacteria, harbor bacteria in their bodies, or eat bacteria-eaters.

Vent worms have no mouth or digestive tract. Instead, chemosynthetic bacteria living in their tissues provide nourishment.

Hemoglobin (which transports hydrogen sulfide to the bacteria) makes the vent worms red.
 

"We were dancing off the walls . . . it was a discovery cruise . . . like Columbus."

John Edmond, geochemist, on the cruise that first found hydrothermal vents

Black smokers, the hottest submarine hot springs, can reach 518-716 F (270-380 C).

The super-hot water laced with hydrogen sulfide and other minerals spews out of cracks in the earth's crust.

More Information:

• Make a miniature deep sea vent - from the New England Aquarium
• Processes and Fluxes on a Superfast Spreading Ridge: The Southern East Pacific Rise
• Deep Sea Hydrothermal Vents - an exhibit from the University of Washington
• Microbiology of Deep-Sea Hydrothermal Vents
• Scientists witness creation of new hydrothermal vents on seafloor
• Deep-sea Hydrothermal Vents
• VENTS Program home page
• A review of the Geography and locations of the identified Deep Sea Vent areas:Eastern Pacific - Juan de Fuca
• Hydrothermal processes at mid-ocean ridges by Susan E. Humphris
• Ocean Hydrothermal Chemistry - including a diagram on Vents Geochemistry
• The Deep-Sea Research Doorway

gene carl feldman (gene@seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov) (301) 286-9428
Judith Gradwohl, Smithsonian Institution (Curator/Ocean Planet)