Black smoker

Black Smoker

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Black smoker

A black smoker or sea vent, is a type of hydrothermal vent

Hydrothermal vent

A hydrothermal vent is a fissure vent in a planet's surface from which Geothermal heated water issues. Hydrothermal vents are commonly found near volcano active places, areas where tectonic plates are moving apart, ocean basins, and hotspot ....
found on the ocean floor. They are formed in fields hundreds of meters wide when superheated

Superheating

In physics, superheating is the phenomenon in which a liquid is heated to a temperature higher than its boiling point, without boiling. Superheating is achieved by heating a wiktionary:Homogeneous substance in a clean container, free of nucleation sites, while taking care not to disturb the liquid....
water from below Earth

Earth

Earth is the third planet from the Sun. Earth is the largest of the terrestrial planets in the Solar System in diameter, mass and density. It is also referred to as the World and Wiktionary:Terra.Note that by International Astronomical Union convention, the term "Terra" is used for naming extensive land masses, rather...
's crust

Crust (geology)

In geology, a crust is the outermost solid shell of a planet or moon, which is chemically distinct from the underlying mantle . Crusts of Earth , our Moon, Mercury , Venus, and Mars have been generated largely by igneous processes, and these crusts are richer in incompatible elements than their respective mantle s....
comes through the ocean floor. This water is rich in dissolved mineral

Mineral

A mineral is a naturally occurring solid formed through Geology processes that has a characteristic chemical composition, a highly ordered atomic structure, and specific physical properties....
s from the crust, most notably sulfide

Sulfide

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Encyclopedia

A black smoker or sea vent, is a type of hydrothermal vent

Hydrothermal vent

Superheating

Earth

Crust (geology)

Mineral

Sulfide

The term sulfide refers to several types of chemical compounds containing sulfur in its lowest oxidation number of −2.Formally, "sulfide" is the dianion, S2−, which exists in strongly alkaline aqueous solutions formed from H2S or alkali metal salts such as Li2S, Na2S, and K2...
s. When it comes in contact with cold ocean water, many minerals precipitate, forming a black chimney-like structure around each vent. The metal sulfides that are deposited can become massive sulfide ore deposits

Volcanogenic massive sulfide ore deposit

Volcanogenic massive sulfide ore deposits or VMS are a type of metal sulfide Ore, mainly Copper-Zinc-Lead which are associated with and created by volcanic-associated hydrothermal events in submarine environments....
in time.

Black smokers were discovered in 1977 on the East Pacific Rise

East Pacific Rise

The East Pacific Rise is a mid-oceanic ridge, a divergent tectonic plate boundary located along the floor of the Pacific Ocean. It separates the Pacific Plate to the west from the North American Plate, the Rivera Plate, the Cocos Plate, the Nazca Plate, and the Antarctic Plate....
by scientists from Scripps Institution of Oceanography

Scripps Institution of Oceanography

Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California, is one of the oldest and largest centers for ocean and earth science research, graduate training, and public service in the world....
. They were observed using a small submersible vehicle called Alvin

DSV Alvin

Alvin is a 16-ton, manned deep-ocean research submersible owned by the United States Navy and operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Woods Hole, Massachusetts....
. Now black smokers are known to exist in the Atlantic

Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions; with a total area of about 106.4 million square kilometres . It covers approximately one-fifth of the Earth's surface....
and Pacific

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. Its name is derived from the Latin name Mare Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portugal explorer Ferdinand Magellan....
Oceans, at an average depth of 2100 meters. The most northerly black smokers are a cluster of five named Loki's Castle

Loki's Castle (hydrothermal field)

Loki's Castle is a field of five active hydrothermal vents in the Atlantic, located at 73rd parallel north on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between Greenland and Norway at a depth of ....
, discovered in 2008 by scientists from the University of Bergen

University of Bergen

The University of Bergen is located in Bergen, Norway, Norway. Although founded as late as 1946, academic activity had taken place at Bergen Museum as far back as 1825....
at 73 degrees north

73rd parallel north

The 73rd parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 73 degree true north of the Earth equator, in the Arctic.Starting at the Prime Meridian and heading eastwards, the parallel 73? north passes through:...
, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge

Mid-Atlantic Ridge

The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is a mid-ocean ridge, a divergent tectonics plate boundary located along the floor of the Atlantic Ocean, and the longest mountain range in the world....
between Greenland and Norway. These black smokers are of interest as they are in a more stable area of the earth's crust, where tectonic forces are less and consequently fields of hydrothermal vents are relatively less common.

The water at a vent can reach , but does not usually boil at the seafloor because the water pressure at that depth exceeds the vapor pressure

Vapor pressure

Vapor pressure , is the pressure of a vapor in Thermodynamic equilibrium with its non-vapor Phase s. All liquids and solids have a tendency to evaporate to a gaseous form, and all gases have a tendency to Condensation back into their original form ....
of the aqueous solution

Solution

In chemistry, a solution is a homogeneous mixture composed of two or more substances. In such a mixture, a solute is dissolved in another substance, known as a solvent....
. The water is also extremely acid

Acid

An acid is traditionally considered any chemical compound that, when dissolved in water, gives a solution with a hydrogen ion Activity greater than in pure water, i.e....
ic, often having a pH

pH is a measure of the Acid or Base of a solution. It is defined as the cologarithm of the Activity of dissolved hydrogen ions . Hydrogen ion activity coefficients cannot be measured experimentally, so they are based on theoretical calculations....
value as low as 2.8 — approximately that of vinegar

Vinegar

Vinegar is an acidic liquid processed from the fermentation of ethanol in a process that yields its key ingredient, acetic acid . It also may come in a diluted form....
. Each year 1.4 × 10¹⁴ kg (370 trillion gallons) of water is passed through black smokers.

Ecosystems

Although life is very sparse at these depths, black smokers are the center of entire ecosystem

Ecosystem

An ecosystem is a natural unit consisting of all plants, animals and micro-organisms in an area functioning together with all of the non-living physical factors of the environment....
s. Sunlight is nonexistent, so many organisms — such as archaea

Archaea

The Archaea are a group of single-celled microorganisms. A single individual or species from this domain is called an archaeon . Archaea, like bacteria, are prokaryotic....
and extremophile

Extremophile

An extremophile is an organism that thrives in and may even require physically or geochemically extreme environment that are detrimental to the majority of life on Earth....
s — convert the heat, methane

Methane

Methane is a chemical compound with the molecular formula . It is the simplest alkane, and the principal component of natural gas. Methane's bond angles are 109.5 degrees....
, and sulfur

Sulfur

Sulfur or sulphur is the chemical element that has the atomic number 16. It is denoted with the symbol S. It is an abundant Valence non-metal....
compounds provided by black smokers into energy through a process called chemosynthesis

Chemosynthesis

Chemosynthesis is the biological conversion of one or more carbon molecules and nutrients into organic matter using the oxidation of inorganic molecules or methane as a source of energy, rather than sunlight, as in photosynthesis....
. More complex life forms like clam

Clam

Clam is a word which can be used for all, some, or only a few species of bivalve mollusks; the word is a common name which has no real Taxonomy significance in biology....
s and tubeworms

Giant tube worm

Giant tube worms, Riftia pachyptila, are ocean invertebrates in the phylum Annelida related to tubeworms commonly found in the foreshore and pelagic zones....
feed on these organisms. The organisms at the base of the food chain

Food chain

Food chains, also called, food networks and/or trophic social networks, describe the eating relationships between species within an ecosystem....
also deposit minerals into the base of the black smoker, therefore completing the life cycle

Biological life cycle

A life cycle is a period involving one generation of an organism through means of reproduction, whether through asexual reproduction or sexual reproduction....
.

A species of phototrophic bacterium has been found living near a black smoker off the coast of Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federalism constitutionalism republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico....
at a depth of . No sunlight penetrates that far into the waters. Instead, the bacteria, part of the Chlorobiaceae

Green sulfur bacteria

The green sulfur bacteria are a family of obligately anaerobic organism photoautotrophic bacterium. Most closely related to the nonetheless distant Bacteroidetes, they are accordingly assigned their own phylum....
family, use the faint glow from the black smoker for photosynthesis

Photosynthesis

File:Seawifs global biosphere.jpgPhotosynthesis is a metabolic pathway that converts carbon dioxide into organic compounds, especially sugars, using the energy from sunlight....
. This is the first organism discovered in nature to use a light other than sunlight for photosynthesis.

New and unusual species are constantly being discovered in the neighborhood of black smokers: for instance, the Pompeii worm

Pompeii worm

The Pompeii worm is a deep-sea polychaete worm extremophile found only at hydrothermal vents in the Pacific Ocean, discovered in the early 1980s off the Gal?pagos Islands by France researchers....
in the 1980s, and a scaly-foot gastropod

Scaly-foot gastropod

The scaly-foot gastropod, tentatively Crysomallon squamiferum, is an unusual snail armored with iron-mineral scales. It was discovered in 2001 on the bases of black smokers at the Kairei vent field hydrothermal vent field, on the Central Indian Ridge, just north of the Rodrigues Triple Point; about 2420 meters below the surface....
in 2001 during an expedition to Indian Ocean

Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering about 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by Asia ; on the west by Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and Australia; and on the south by the Southern Ocean ....
's Kairei hydrothermal vent field. The latter uses iron sulfides (pyrite

Pyrite

The mineral pyrite, or iron pyrite, is an iron sulfide with the chemical formula ironsulfur2. This mineral's metallic Lustre and pale-to-normal, brass-yellow hue have earned it the nickname fool's gold due to its resemblance to gold....
and greigite) for the structure of its dermal sclerites (hardened body parts), instead of calcium carbonate

Calcium carbonate

Calcium carbonate is a chemical compound with the chemical formula CalciumCarbonOxygen3. It is a common substance found as Rock in all parts of the world, and is the main component of seashells, snails, and eggshells....
. The extreme pressure of 2500 m of water (approximately 25 megapascals or 246.73 atmosphere

Atmosphere (unit)

The standard atmosphere is an international reference pressure defined as 101,325 Pascal and formerly used as unit of pressure . For practical purposes it has been replaced by the Bar which is 100,000 Pa....
) is thought to play a role in stabilizing iron sulfide for biological purposes. This armor plating probably serves as a defense against the venomous radula
Radula

The radula is an anatomical structure found in mollusks and used for feeding. It is a minutely toothed, chitinous ribbon. It is typically used for scraping or cutting food before the food enters the esophagus....
(teeth) of predatory snail

Snail

The word snail is a common name for almost all members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have coiled animal shells in the adult stage. When the word snail is used in a general sense, it includes sea snails, land snails and freshwater snails....
s in that community. This snail, the Maquillia, is unique in its kind.

External links

- Public outreach site for explorations sponsored by the Office of Ocean Exploration.
, , - A rich collection of images, video, audio and .
- Explore the volcanoes of the Mariana Arc, Submarine Ring of Fire.
, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is a private, nonprofit research and higher education facility dedicated to the study of all aspects of marine science and engineering and to the education of marine researchers....
- a vent chimney retrieved by an Australian CSIRO Research Vessel north of Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands ....
in April-May 2000.

Black smoker

Ecosystems

See also

External links