40 Years of Hydrothermal Vent Exploration

Hydrothermal vents, driven by volcanism along tectonic plate boundaries, are short-lived openings in the seafloor that spew super-heated, chemical-rich fluids into the ocean. Often composed of dramatic chimney spires, hydrothermal vents are important habitat in the deep ocean, supporting chemosynthetic communities that can include shrimp, tubeworms, crabs, fish, and more. https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/news/exploration-extras/24-national-ocean-month/welcome.html#chemosynthetic | NOAA Ocean Explo

Deep-sea hydrothermal vent field features mineral spires, marine life, and extreme aquatic environment exploration.

Deep-sea fish use hydrothermal vents to incubate eggs | Penn State University

Hydrothermal vents: survival at the ocean's hot springs | Natural History Museum

In the deep sea, hydrothermal vents are biologically important, harboring massive animal communities at densities that make them one of the most productive ecosystems on Earth. All this biomass exists thousands of feet below the sea surface and, unlike most communities, which rely on sunlight, the food web of hydrothermal vents is based on tiny chemosynthetic microbes (bacteria) which derive their energy from metabolizing vented chemicals. Clip from Dive 546 of our recent #VentUnderworld expedit