> What Does a Vent Look Like?
> What are Hydrothermal Vents?
> Where are Vents Located?
> How Are Vents Formed?
> Why are Vents Important?
> Interesting Facts
> Permission to Descend!
What does a Vent Look Like?
You may view a short MPEG movie of a hydrothermal vent! (548 K)
Click here or on the image itself.
The movie will open in a new window.
Close the window when you are finished.
Movie and image courtesy of NOAA.
What are Hydrothermal Vents?
Vents are geysers on the ocean floor that spew hot, mineral-rich water to nurture dense, bizarre biocommunities. Vents may be 3.5 - 4 billion years old, but were discovered by scientists less than 25 years ago.
Where are Vents Located?
Vents exist in all the world's oceans. Most are found at an average depth of 2225 meters (7,300 feet) in areas of seafloor spreading and near active volcanoes along the Mid-Ocean Ridge.
How are Vents Formed?
Seawater seeps into cracks in the earth's crust, becomes superheated by magma, picks up and loses minerals on its way, then rises and bursts out into the ocean again through holes in the seafloor.
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