1. Hydrothermal Vents

2. Hydrothermal Vents
In 1977, scientists in Alvin dove to the Mid-Ocean Ridge in the eastern Pacific. A spectacular sight greeted them. Clouds of what looked like black smoke were billowing from tall chimneys on the ocean floor.

3. Vent Basics
1) Cold seawater (36°F) seeps down through cracks into the ocean floor

4. Vent Basics
2) Energy radiating up from molten rock deep in the earth raises the seawater temperature ( °F).

5. Vent Basics
2) A chemical reaction changes to water in the following ways: all the oxygen is removed; it becomes acidic; it picks up metals, iron, copper, zinc, and hydrogen sulfide.

6. Vent Basics
3) Hot hydrothermal fluids rise up through the ocean crust (like a hot-air balloon). The fluids carry the dissolved metals and hydrogen sulfide with them

7. Vent Basics
4) The hydrothermal fluids exit the chimney and mix with the cold seawater.

8. Vent Basics
4) The metals carried up in the fluids combine with sulfur to form black minerals and give the hydrothermal fluid the appearance of smoke.

9. Draw this picture in the
box in your notes.

10. Vent Vocab Chimney are made of minerals rich in metals and sulfur
grow bigger as long as fluid continues to flow out of them and minerals continue to form
can grow as fast as 30 cm a day
very fragile and often collapse if they grow too big

11. Vent Vocab White Smoker
cooler fluid ( °F) flows slower than black smoker fluid
smaller in size than black smokers
white smoke comes from the minerals that form when the fluid exits the chimney and mixes with seawater
minerals do not contain metals

12. Vent Vocab Black Smoker
smoke does not come out of the black smoker chimney
hydrothermal fluid is hot enough to melt metal ( °F)
dissolved metals come from deep beneath the ocean floor
when the fluid mixes with seawater, metals combine with sulfur to form tiny black particles; this gives the appearance of smoke

13. Chemosynthesis and Vent Life
Watch the following video and fill out the last two sections of your notes.
NOAA Video

14. Hydrothermal Vent Life
Look at the following link and discuss the biological life found around the hydrothermal vent.
Hydrothermal Vent Life