hydrothermal vents Archives

Hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor, known as black smokers, emit volcanically heated fluids rich in dissolved metals and sulfur. These environments are oases of microbial activity on the ocean floor. -- Marum Universitat of Bremen

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Iron-sulfur Minerals Bear Witness To The Earliest Life On Earth

by Keith CowingMay 31, 2024May 31, 2024

A team of researchers at the Universities of Tübingen and Göttingen has found that certain minerals with characteristic shapes could indicate the activity of bacteria in hydrothermal vents – or […]

2016: Alvin working on the East Pacific Rise, as viewed from a camera on an elevator (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Analog Studies, Astrogeology, Away Teams & Field Reports, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exploration Gear & Tech, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Missions & Hardware, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Sample Return, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Offworld Away Team Analog: New Opportunities and Untapped Scientific Potential in Earth’s Abyssal Ocean

by Keith CowingMay 23, 2024May 23, 2024

The abyssal ocean covers more than half of the Earth’s surface, yet remains understudied and underappreciated. In this Perspectives article, we mark the occasion of the Deep Submergence Vehicle Alvin’s […]

Volcanic ash and mollusc shells surround a deep-sea hydrothermal vent at the vent field in the Kingdom of Tonga, Pacific Ocean. URI researchers had a unique opportunity to study the biology of the organisms living at the site of a volcanic eruption in the southern Pacific, able to see how life there is impacted by dramatic environmental change, whether natural (volcanic activity) or human (deep-sea mining).(Roxanne Beinart, chief scientist, URI. Funder: NSF © Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Away Teams & Field Reports, Caves, Craters, Mountains, Subsurface, Lava Tubes, Exploration Gear & Tech, Extinction events, Habitable Zones, Microbiology & Virology, Press Release, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Seafloor Life Devastated Near Explosive Volcanic Eruption In Pacific

by Keith CowingMay 20, 2024May 20, 2024

A University of Rhode Island oceanographer leading her first research cruise in the southern Pacific uncovered a surprise when her vessel looked below the waters in the Polynesian nation of […]

Panels a-c are published micrographs of controversial microfossils reproduced from (a) - Westall et al.59, (b) - Wacey et al.63, and (c) - Wacey et al.64. Panel d is a published micrograph of a biomorph from Cosmidis and Templeton (2016)77 formed from sulfur and yeast extract. Panels e–h are confocal micrographs (a–g) and a transmission electron micrograph (h) of vesicles that were produced during this study. All scale bars are 10 µm. -- Nature

Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Fossils & Paleontology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Microbiology & Virology, Status Report

Prebiotic Membrane Structures Mimic the Morphology of Alleged Early Traces of Life on Earth

by Keith CowingMay 14, 2024

Elucidating compositions of the first cell membranes requires experiments with molecules and chemical conditions representative of early Earth. The molecules used are described as ‘prebiotically plausible’, i.e., they could have […]

Image from the Sulis formation in the Lost City hydrothermal field, an alkaline hydrothermal vent that produces hydrogen. CREDIT Courtesy of Susan Lang, U. of South Carolina /NSF/ROV Jason 2018 © Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Microbiology & Virology, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release

Harnessing Hydrogen At Life’s Origin

by Keith CowingMarch 19, 2024March 19, 2024

A new report uncovers how hydrogen gas, the energy of the future, provided energy in the past, at the origin of life 4 billion years ago.

Field of manganese nodules on the sea floor. ROV KIEL6000 GEOMAR CREDIT ROV KIEL6000 Geomar

Caves, Craters, Mountains, Subsurface, Lava Tubes, Press Release, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Unexpected Biodiversity On Earth’s Ocean Floor

by Keith CowingJanuary 26, 2024January 26, 2024

Hydrothermal vents and manganese nodule fields in the deep oceans contain more biodiversity than expected. That is shown by the thesis that NIOZ-marine biologist Coral Diaz-Recio Lorenzo will defend at […]

Thermal spring at Haukadalur valley (Geysir geothermal area) - iceland

Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Microbiology & Virology, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release

The Potential Origins Of Life In Ancient Hot Springs

by Keith CowingJanuary 14, 2024January 16, 2024

Newcastle University research turns to ancient hot springs to explore the origins of life on Earth. The research team, funded by the UK’s Natural Environmental Research Council, investigated how the […]

Microeukaryotic cells captured with epifluorescence (DAPI filter) from FLP uptake experiments conducted in this study. All images are derived from shipboard experiments and scale bars are located within each panel. (a-c) Eukaryotic cells from grazing experiments conducted at vent site X-18. The cell in panel (a) contained a consumed FLP cell. Imaged cells from (d) Mustard Stand, (e) Shrimpocalypse, and (f) the plume at Von Damm. Two FLP cells are imaged inside the eukaryotic cell in (f). -- biorxiv.org

Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Microbiology & Virology, Status Report

Microbial Eukaryotic Predation Pressure And Biomass At Deep-sea hydrothermal Vents: Implications For Deep-sea Carbon Cycling

by Keith CowingAugust 18, 2023August 18, 2023

Deep-sea hydrothermal vent geochemistry shapes the foundation of the microbial food web by fueling chemolithoautotrophic microbial activity. Microbial eukaryotes (or protists) play a critical role in hydrothermal vent food webs […]

A large cluster of tubeworms at Fava Flow Suburbs, a site on the East Pacific Rise 2,500 meters deep. Experiments testing the theory of species dispersal through cracks in the Earth's crust were performed in this area. CREDIT Schmidt Ocean Institute

Away Teams & Field Reports, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Exploration Gear & Tech, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Habitable Zones, Missions & Hardware, Press Release, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

A New Ecosystem Has Been Discovered Underneath Oceanic Hydrothermal Vents

by Keith CowingAugust 9, 2023August 9, 2023

A new ecosystem has been discovered in volcanic cavities beneath hydrothermal vents at a well-studied undersea volcano on the East Pacific Rise off Central America.

Grand Prismatic Spring - USGS.Gov public domain Source: https://www.usgs.gov/media/images/grand-prismatic-spring-0

Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exploration Gear & Tech, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Microbiology & Virology, Origin & Evolution of Life, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

How Do Yellowstone Lake Hot Springs Compare To Oceanic Hydrothermal Vents?

by Keith CowingApril 24, 2023June 13, 2025

Discovery of hydrothermal systems on the ocean floor in the late 1970s is regarded as one of the greatest scientific finds of the 20th century and has implications for the […]