2023-08-19 22:02:19
A large group of tube worms at a site on the East Pacific Ridge at a depth of 2,500 meters (Schmidt Ocean Institute)
The planet has many layers that scientists are analyzing one by one. This time a group of researchers has focused on the one that opens under the submarine volcanic crust, which is full of still unknown life.
The fauna that has settled in the depths of the oceans is fascinating and full of mysteries yet to be elucidated.
Recently, an interdisciplinary and international team of specialists announced an amazing new ecosystem following a discovery inside volcanic caves in Central America. The research vessel Falkor of the Schmidt Ocean Institute (SOI) took 30 days to complete their expedition and shed light on one of the greatest discoveries in 46 years of studying hydrothermal vents.
An underwater robot explored the new ecosystem hiding under hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor (Schmidt Oceanographic Institute)
In East Pacific Rise, an underwater robot was able to flip sections of the volcanic crust to reveal a new-to-science ecosystem teeming with worms, snails and chemosynthetic bacteria that apparently thrive despite living at 25°C underwater. This new scenario changes the way scholars view hydrothermal vents, adding a whole new dimension to the ecosystems that exist both on their surface and below.
“On land, we have known regarding animals that live in underground caves for a long time, and in the ocean regarding others that live in sand and mud, but for the first time, scientists have looked under hydrothermal vents,” explained the Executive Director of SOI, Jyotika Virmani. This truly remarkable discovery of a new ecosystem, hidden beneath another ecosystem, provides new evidence that life exists in incredible places.”
Schmidt Ocean Institute scientists discovered an ecosystem hidden beneath another ecosystem in the East Pacific Rise (Schmidt Oceanographic Institute)
This is the first time that life has been found below hydrothermal vents, which are hot volcanic springs that are distributed along the seafloor.
The team also found evidence that species on the surface, such as tube worms, can travel below the surface using venting fluid, allowing them to expand their range of circulation. New hydrothermal vents can appear when tectonic activity causes the Earth’s crustal plates to shift and crack. These crevices fill with seawater that is heated by the magma and causes it to reintegrate into the seabed.
“We have long understood how new hydrothermal vents appear,” dojo Virmani, “but what we did not fully understand was how the ecosystems that live in them emerge so quickly. One of the key animals in these ecosystems is the tube worm, but we have rarely found their young on the surfaces of hydrothermal vents.”
Life in the deep: an astonishing world of biodiversity is revealed beneath the underwater volcanic crust (Schmidt Institute of Oceanography)
This fundamental new discovery regarding how these worms can travel below the surface of hydrothermal vents goes some way to explaining how they colonize new habitats. The scientists were able to reach their conclusions with the help of the underwater robot called ROV SuBastian, which stuck boxes over cracks in the earth’s crust and was able to collect some of the animals that live below the surface.
“Our understanding of animal life at deep-sea hydrothermal vents has been greatly expanded by this discovery,” said expedition leader Monika Bright of the University of Vienna. Two dynamic vent habitats exist. The animals there, above and below the surface, thrive together in unison, depending on the fluid below and the oxygen in the seawater from above.”
Hydrothermal vents are hot volcanic springs that support a wide variety of life both on their surface and below it (Schmidt Institute of Oceanography)
The discovery of a new ecosystem is always exciting, but it also represents a new consideration in the ongoing debate on the safety of deep sea mining. Some argue that the bottom of the sea is the path of least destruction when it comes to extracting from the planet the metals needed to power the green battery revolution, but others warn that there is a long way to go before the potential results can be established. damage from digging in the deep sea.
“The discoveries made on each Schmidt Ocean Institute expedition reinforce the urgency to fully explore our ocean so that we know what exists in the deep sea,” said Wendy Schmidt, president and co-founder of the Schmidt Ocean Institute. The discovery of new creatures, landscapes, and now, a whole new ecosystem underscores how much we still have to discover regarding our ocean, and how important it is to protect what we don’t yet know or understand,” she concluded.
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