Deepest Volcanic Sea Vents Found; "Like Another World"

[Mika]

Between Cuba and Jamaica.

Deepest Volcanic Sea Vents Found; "Like Another World"
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/04/100412-worlds-deepest-undersea-volcanic-vents-hydrothermal/

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[protocol rv]

1. Very interesting, A+

This trench is fairly young, as time is measured in a planet's lifespan (did you know Cuba used to be in the Pacific a long time ago, and moved around until it struck North America?)

But I am starting to believe that life originated in a site very similar to this. In other words, we descend from lifeforms which evolved around deep water geothermal vents. Why do I believe this? Because life had to evolve protected from ultra violet rays, and the constant bombardment of very large objects striking the surface and baking it. Thus the most likely survivors would be creatures living in the deep, and used to high temperatures, which could live in the dark and fairly unaware that the planet was being struck by giant asteroids and comets on a regular basis.

[Judi Lynn]

2. Volcanic vent in Caribbean may reveal new marine species, clues to early life

Volcanic vent in Caribbean may reveal new marine species, clues to early life
Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Scientists using a remote-controlled submarine have discovered the deepest known volcanic vent and say the superheated waters inside may contain undiscovered marine species and perhaps even clues to the origin of life on Earth.

Experts in the British scientific expedition said they found the vent more than three miles beneath the surface of the Caribbean Sea in an area known as the Cayman Trough. That is a half a mile deeper than any previously discovered volcanic vent.

These vents, known as "black smokers" because of how they look, are areas where seawater seeps into small cracks that penetrate deep into the Earth's crust; some reach down more than a mile. Temperatures there can reach 750 degrees, heating the water to the point where it can melt lead. When the blazing hot mineral-rich fluid is expelled into the icy cold of the deep ocean, it creates the smoke-like effect and leaves behind towering chimneys of metal ore, some two stories tall. The spectacular pressure -- 500 times stronger than the Earth's atmosphere -- keeps the water from boiling.

The environment in volcanic vents may appear brutal: The intense heat and pressure combine with toxic metals to form a highly acidic undersea cocktail. But vents host lush colonies of exotic animals such as blind shrimp, giant white crabs and large, red-lipped tubeworms. At the base of this ecosystem are chemical-eating bacteria that draw on the hydrogen sulfide and methane erupting from the vents to make food.

More:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/19/AR2010041903149.html

[Judi Lynn]

3. Black smoker images:

http://planetearth.nerc.ac.uk.nyud.net:8090/images/uploaded/medium/smoker-m.jpg http://upload.wikimedia.org.nyud.net:8090/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c0/Nur04506.jpg/220px-Nur04506.jpg http://www.underwatertimes.com.nyud.net:8090/news2/lost_city_black_smoker.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com.nyud.net:8090/4052/4275405795_c414515984_o.jpg

Yay, black smokers. :woohoo:

[protocol rv]

4. I wonder

if the light used to take these pictures may not be harming that ecosystem. I know those creatures are blind, but they may sense the light and it may bother the heck out of them. It's like having a searchlight shine on our faces with our eyes closed, it still goes through the eyelids. Just wondering if they've bothered to check if those creatures have any light sensors at all.

[Mika]

5. Thanks for posting.

As you might remember, I did some semesters in Cuba getting my biology degree (prior to the drill,fill&bill redirect), and scuba diving in the Caribbean is a love of mine. Those pics are great.

:hi:

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[Judi Lynn]

6. I thought I remembered some marine biology in your background!

Just remember what we have learned about dirty tricks in Cuba from the covert ops CIA people, don't take just any wet suit someone hands you! It could be poisonous, for sure. Thanks, Mika.

They're still probably lurking around there, as they WERE the ones who developed and trained people for the torture palace for Batista, as verified by former CIA guy Phillip Agee, long despised by _{George H. W. Bush,} even by his wife Barabara. (Why do so few people realize the _Bush father and grandfather, Preston Bush owned a lot of property in Cuba and was up to his unpleasant nose in anti-Cuba crap after Cuba's second revolution?)

This is a fascinating subject, for sure. Thank you, Mika. Those vents no doubt are an important pressure valve.

[protocol rv]

7. I don't get it., Judy

Are you saying geothermal vents in the Cayman Trench are somehow related to CIA dirty tricks? Or that somebody tried to poison Mika's wet suit?

[Judi Lynn]

8. Omigod! have you gone mad, or do you have reading comprehension problems.

Please, give it a rest. If you can't read what's right in front of you correctly, pull over, and take a cab home.

We can't allow you to bumble around in the road and bring all conversation to a screeching halt.

Thanks, anyway.

http://www.kids-n-cowboys.com.nyud.net:8090/images/gabby1.jpg

[flamingdem]

9. proto must be jokin' .. like the pic! nt