hOW HYDROTHERMAL VENT WORK
Hydrothermal vents are commonly formed near areas where tectonic plates are moving or that are volcanically active, like the ring of fire. In these areas, cold seawater circulates deep into the crust of the ocean. As the water is heated by hot magma and pressurized, it rises towards the crust's surface and gains dissolved minerals, metals, and cheicals. When this super heated water bursts through the crust, reacts with oxygen and begins to cool, the minerals solidify and form hydrothermal vent structures. Seawater in the vents can reach temperatures of over 700 degrees Fahrenheit, but does not boil because of the extreme pressure where the deep sea hydrothermal vents are formed. Even though there is extreme pressure, heat, and tooxicity around these vents, many diverse creatures thrive, somehow turning the hydrothermal fluid into energy.
BLACK SMOKERS
Black Smokers emit the hottest and darkest plumes, because of their extremely high sulfur concentration. They can be up to 18 stories (180 feet) tall, and hot enough to melt lead. When the superheated hydrothermal fluid reacts with the oxygenated seawater, the dissolved metals and sulfur form black particles that give it the name of a Black Smoker.
WHITE SMOKERS
White smokers emit cooler plumes and have smaller chimneys than Black smokers. This is because they do not contain as high a concentration of sulfur, but are rich in barium, calcium, and silicon. In white smokers, the hydrothermal fluids mix with seawater under the crust, and the black minerals settle out then. the seafloor. When the fluid exits the chimney, silica precipitates out as a solid and anhydrite is produced, both giving a white color to the plume.
SEEPS/DIFFUSES
even cooler, weaker flows. just kind of a shimmer or bubble, depending on if it ihas water temp or gases. In some places, hydrothermal fluids seep directly out of the oceanic crust. These seeps form when hot fluids mix with cold seawater below the seafloor, cooling the liquid and precipitating out all the dissolved metals before it leaves the crust. These diffuse fluids are clear, but can be seen as a shimmer or bubbles, depending on the temperature of the liquid and the amount of gases dissolved in it. Microorganisms thrive in diffuse-flow environments by using chemosynthesis to extract energy from chemicals in the fluids. The microbes then provide nourishment for the exotic creatures that live around the vents.
BLACK SMOKERS
Black Smokers emit the hottest and darkest plumes, because of their extremely high sulfur concentration. They can be up to 18 stories (180 feet) tall, and hot enough to melt lead. When the superheated hydrothermal fluid reacts with the oxygenated seawater, the dissolved metals and sulfur form black particles that give it the name of a Black Smoker.
WHITE SMOKERS
White smokers emit cooler plumes and have smaller chimneys than Black smokers. This is because they do not contain as high a concentration of sulfur, but are rich in barium, calcium, and silicon. In white smokers, the hydrothermal fluids mix with seawater under the crust, and the black minerals settle out then. the seafloor. When the fluid exits the chimney, silica precipitates out as a solid and anhydrite is produced, both giving a white color to the plume.
SEEPS/DIFFUSES
even cooler, weaker flows. just kind of a shimmer or bubble, depending on if it ihas water temp or gases. In some places, hydrothermal fluids seep directly out of the oceanic crust. These seeps form when hot fluids mix with cold seawater below the seafloor, cooling the liquid and precipitating out all the dissolved metals before it leaves the crust. These diffuse fluids are clear, but can be seen as a shimmer or bubbles, depending on the temperature of the liquid and the amount of gases dissolved in it. Microorganisms thrive in diffuse-flow environments by using chemosynthesis to extract energy from chemicals in the fluids. The microbes then provide nourishment for the exotic creatures that live around the vents.
hOW Organisms USE THE SULFUR
Hydrothermal vents spew minerals and elements into the ocean, and some animals have learned how to use these mostly toxic minerals to survive and thrive.
chemosynthesis:
Since there is no light in the deep sea, deep-sea bacteria have to create energy using different sources. In a process called chemosynthesis, these chemoautotrophs combine the hydrogen sulfide that comes from the hydrothermal vents with hydrogen from water and oxidize it. This chemical reaction produces energy, sulfur, and water.
CO2 + 4H2S + O2 -> CH20 + 4S + 3H2O
With this energy they can create sugars and are what feed the rest of the hydrothermal vent food chain. Not all chemoautotrophs specifically create reactions with sulfur, this is just the most common type of bacteria around the hydrothermal vents.
CO2 + 4H2S + O2 -> CH20 + 4S + 3H2O
With this energy they can create sugars and are what feed the rest of the hydrothermal vent food chain. Not all chemoautotrophs specifically create reactions with sulfur, this is just the most common type of bacteria around the hydrothermal vents.
Chemoautotrophs used for food:
Many of these bacteria are then eaten by species of animals such as shrimps and crabs.
Symbiotic Relationship between chemoautotrophs and deep sea animals
To survive in the deep sea, tube worms have evolved to have a symbiotic relationship with the chemoautotrophic bacteria. Tubeworms are gutless, stomach-less, and mouth-less animals that grow around hydrothermal vents. Their bodies are a hollow tube called a trophosome which is filled with billions of the chemoautotroph bacteria. The tubeworm filters oxygen and hydrogen sulfide from the water which the bacteria then uses in its chemical reaction to create energy and sugars. The tube worm derives 100% of its food from the bacteria.
ANIMALS AROUND HYDROTHERMAL VENTs
•Deep-sea Pompeii Worm (Alvinella pompejana)
•Hydrothermal vent eelpout fish (Thermarces cerberus)
•Hydrothermal vent crab (Bythograea thermydron)
•Giant tubeworm (Riftia pachyptila)
•Hydrothermal vent squat lobster (Munidopsis)
•Hydrothermal vent barnacle (Neolepas)
•Hydrothermal vent octopus (Vulcanoctopus hydrothermalis)
•Hydrothermal vent eelpout fish (Thermarces cerberus)
•Hydrothermal vent crab (Bythograea thermydron)
•Giant tubeworm (Riftia pachyptila)
•Hydrothermal vent squat lobster (Munidopsis)
•Hydrothermal vent barnacle (Neolepas)
•Hydrothermal vent octopus (Vulcanoctopus hydrothermalis)
COnclusion
--Horse-shoe shape surrounding the Pacific Ocean
--3 kinds of boundries causing:
¡Volcanoes
¡More sea floor
¡Earthquakes
--Types of smokers:
¡Black
¡White
--Hydrothermal vents and symbiotic relations
--Animals found in HTV
--3 kinds of boundries causing:
¡Volcanoes
¡More sea floor
¡Earthquakes
--Types of smokers:
¡Black
¡White
--Hydrothermal vents and symbiotic relations
--Animals found in HTV