I can see a gap between plates of rock laying gently on the ocean floor. It is a hydrothermal vent. There is a smell of something burning in the water. Waves begin to ripple around me. I can hear a deafening noise, to my left all I can see are clouds of grey ash dissolving and lava bubbling. With all the sudden current water is pushed into the gap. It stirs up the magma and overheats itself. Then fires out of the vents like a rocket, at an amazing heat of up to 570 degrees Fahrenheit into the ocean.
The amount of pressure surrounding the hydrothermal vent is so intense, that the water can not boil. When it finally cools to around 73 degrees Fahrenheit it becomes a milky color and is transformed into a cloudy world of minerals.
Yet as hostile and as unlikly as life is near the hydrothermal vents, life exists. Some common species include Giant Shellfish, White Crabs, Tube Worms and Giant Clams. Giant Shellfish are mussels, they feed on bacteria that they have filtered out of the water. Giant Clams have white shells and they are about a foot wide.
White Crabs are the predators of the deep ocean. They eat both the tube worms and the Gant Shellfish. Tube Worms are long white stalks that sway with the waters current. On top of them are red plumes which are filled with blood. Tube worms don't have a mouth or any digestive tissue, so they have to live of the energy that the bacteria inside of them makes. However, they can grow to nearly eight feet tall.
For years scientists had predicted " hot spots" on the ocean floor. "Hot spots" happen when plates in the earths crust rub against each other. When this happens, more often than not magma erupts. Yet it wasn't until 1977 that someone witnessed the complete " Hot spot."
Using a 25-foot submarine French and American Scientists boarded for an expedition of the " Hot spots." Researcher Robert Ballard wrote " The lumped mounds of pillow lava were thick with jutting chalk white clam shells, some of which were a foot in length." The submarine dove 2,500 meters into the Galapagos Rift. The scientists then discovered that the " Hot spot" was actually a hydrothermal vent. The men wrote extensively about new animal life found there including giant tube worms, and a large crab covered in limpets.
Want to know more about hydrothermal vents, click here
http://ocean.si.edu/ocean-videos/hydrothermal-vent-creatures
By Alexandra, age 10
