Fissure in a planet's surface from which heated water emits
Black smoker in the Atlantic OceanWhite smokers at Champagne Vent, Eifuku, Japan
Hydrothermal vents are fissures on the seabed from which geothermally heated water discharges. They are commonly found near volcanically active places, areas where tectonic plates are moving apart at mid-ocean ridges, ocean basins, and hotspots.[1] The dispersal of hydrothermal fluids throughout the global ocean at active vent sites creates hydrothermal plumes. Hydrothermal deposits are rocks and mineral ore deposits formed by the action of hydrothermal vents.
Hydrothermal vents exist because the earth is both geologically active and has large amounts of water on its surface and within its crust. Under the sea, they may form features called black smokers or white smokers, which deliver a wide range of elements to the world's oceans, thus contributing to global marine biogeochemistry. Relative to the majority of the deep sea, the areas around hydrothermal vents are biologically more productive, often hosting complex communities fueled by the chemicals dissolved in the vent fluids. Chemosynthetic bacteria and archaea found around hydrothermal vents form the base of the food chain, supporting diverse organisms including giant tube worms, clams, limpets, and shrimp. Active hydrothermal vents are thought to exist on Jupiter's moon Europa and Saturn's moon Enceladus,[2][3] and it is speculated that ancient hydrothermal vents once existed on Mars.[1][4]
Hydrothermal vents have been hypothesized to have been a significant factor to starting abiogenesis and the survival of primitive life. The conditions of these vents have been shown to support the synthesis of molecules important to life. Some evidence suggests that certain vents such as alkaline hydrothermal vents or those containing supercritical CO2 are more conducive to the formation of these organic molecules. However, the origin of life is a widely debated topic, and there are many conflicting viewpoints.
^ abColín-García, María (2016). "Hydrothermal vents and prebiotic chemistry: a review". Boletín de la Sociedad Geológica Mexicana. 68 (3): 599–620. doi:10.18268/BSGM2016v68n3a13.
^Chang, Kenneth (13 April 2017). "Conditions for Life Detected on Saturn Moon Enceladus". New York Times. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
^"Spacecraft Data Suggest Saturn Moon's Ocean May Harbor Hydrothermal Activity". NASA. 11 March 2015. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
^Paine, M. (15 May 2001). "Mars Explorers to Benefit from Australian Research". Space.com. Archived from the original on 21 February 2006.
Hydrothermalvents are fissures on the seabed from which geothermally heated water discharges. They are commonly found near volcanically active places...
The hydrothermalvent microbial community includes all unicellular organisms that live and reproduce in a chemically distinct area around hydrothermal vents...
naturally occurring proton gradient near a deep-sea white smoker hydrothermalvent. Earth remains the only place in the universe known to harbor life...
The Endeavour HydrothermalVents (also known as the Main Endeavour Field, MEF, or EHV) are a group of hydrothermalvents in the north-eastern Pacific Ocean...
The Beebe HydrothermalVent Field (abbreviated BVF, also known as the Piccard Vent Field) is the world's deepest known hydrothermalvent site and is located...
on Earth, such as the water issuing from black smokers, a type of hydrothermalvent. SCF’s are used as a substitute for organic solvents in a range of...
was studying hydrothermalvents and no biologists were included in the expedition. Many of the species found living near hydrothermalvents during this...
continue to support passive hydrothermal circulation systems. Hydrothermalvents are locations on the seafloor where hydrothermal fluids mix into the overlying...
heterotrophy. Hydrothermalvent fauna The suggestion of Winogradsky was confirmed nearly 90 years later, when hydrothermal ocean vents were predicted...
relative to the very warm (at least 60 °C or 140 °F) conditions of a hydrothermalvent. Cold seeps constitute a biome supporting several endemic species...
and nutrition, such as occurs in chemosynthetic archaea found near hydrothermalvents and cold seeps. The aphotic zone can be subdivided into three different...
The Lost City Hydrothermal Field, often referred to simply as Lost City, is an area of marine alkaline hydrothermalvents located on the Atlantis Massif...
Mid-Atlantic Ridge is an example of such hydrothermalvents. Serpentinization alone cannot provide the heat supply for these vents, which must be driven mostly by...
dioxide is also introduced into the oceans through hydrothermalvents. The Champagne hydrothermalvent, found at the Northwest Eifuku volcano in the Mariana...
The Rainbow hydrothermalvent field is a system of ultramafic-hosted hydrothermalvents located at 36°14'N on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR). It was discovered...
Pacific Ocean. The better known one is NW Eifuku, where an unusual hydrothermalvent called "Champagne" produced droplets of liquid CO 2. Both seamounts...
oldest forms of life in the form of fossilized microorganisms in hydrothermalvent precipitates from the Nuvvuagittuq Belt, that may have lived as early...
plankton in the seamount region, thus increasing fauna nearby as well Hydrothermalvents are also a common feature in some areas of the bathypelagic zone and...
a primitive metabolic system (Wood-Ljungdahl pathway) at alkaline hydrothermalvents or other geological environments like impact crater lakes from meteorites...
referred to as "bristle worms"). It is an extremophile found only at hydrothermalvents in the Pacific Ocean, discovered in the early 1980s off the Galápagos...
chert rocks from the same Australian craton region, and in 3.42 Ga hydrothermalvent precipitates from Barberton, South Africa. Much later in the geologic...
provided important insights into the geology, chemistry, and biology of hydrothermalvents, as well as the dynamics of submarine volcanic systems. The eruption...
A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the...
a hydrothermalvent environment for a thermophilic LUCA, this does not constitute evidence that the origin of life took place at a hydrothermalvent since...
Global Information
