hydrothermal vent

(noun)

a hot spring, on the floor of the ocean, mostly along the central axes of the mid-ocean ridges, where heated fluids emerge from fissures in the Earth's crust

Related Terms

Examples of hydrothermal vent in the following topics:

  • Hydrothermal Vent Microbial Ecosystems

    • A hydrothermal vent is a fissure in the earth's surface from which geothermally heated water issues.
    • However, hydrothermal vents often expel nutrient rich water, containing methane and sulfur compounds.
    • These bacteria form the basis of the entire hydrothermal vent ecosystem.
    • Hydrothermal vents are some of the most unique ecosystems in the world
    • Hydrothermal vents are cracks in the earth's crust where geothermally heated water leaks out.

  • Ocean Floor

    • Microbial life plays a primary role in regulating biogeochemical systems in virtually all of our planet's environments, including some of the most extreme, from frozen environments and acidic lakes, to hydrothermal vents at the bottom of deepest oceans, and some of the most familiar, such as the human small intestine.
    • Recently there has been the discovery of abundant marine life in the deep sea, especially around hydrothermal vents.
    • Large deep sea communities of marine life have been discovered around black and white smokers – hydrothermal vents emitting typical chemicals toxic to humans and most of the vertebrates.
    • Hydrothermal vents along the mid-ocean ridge spreading centers act as oases, as do their opposites, cold seeps.

  • Strategies for Acquiring Energy

    • Chemoautotrophs are primarily bacteria that are found in rare ecosystems where sunlight is not available, such as in those associated with dark caves or hydrothermal vents at the bottom of the ocean .
    • Many chemoautotrophs in hydrothermal vents use hydrogen sulfide (H2S), which is released from the vents, as a source of chemical energy.
    • Swimming shrimp, a few squat lobsters, and hundreds of vent mussels are seen at a hydrothermal vent at the bottom of the ocean.

  • Nanoarchaeum and Aciduliprofundum

    • Nanoarchaeum equitans is a species of marine Archaea discovered in a hydrothermal vent off the coast of Iceland.
    • Nanoarchaeum equitans is a species of marine Archaea that was discovered in 2002 in a hydrothermal vent off the coast of Iceland on the Kolbeinsey Ridge by Karl Stetter.

  • Methane-Producing Archaea: Methanogens

    • In deep basaltic rocks near the mid-ocean ridges, methanogens can obtain their hydrogen from the serpentinization reaction of olivine as observed in the Lost City hydrothermal field.
    • Methanogens are commonly found in the guts of animals, deep layers of marine sediment, hydrothermal vents, and wetlands.
    • Some methanogens, called extremophiles, can thrive in extreme environments such as hot springs, submarine hydrothermal vents, and hot, dry deserts.

  • The Origins of Archaea and Bacteria

    • The first microbial mats likely obtained their energy from chemicals found near hydrothermal vents.
    • A hydrothermal vent is a breakage or fissure in the earth's surface that releases geothermally-heated water.
    • With the evolution of photosynthesis about 3 billion years ago, some prokaryotes in microbial mats came to use a more widely-available energy source, sunlight, whereas others were still dependent on chemicals from hydrothermal vents for energy and food.
    • This (a) microbial mat, about one meter in diameter, grows over a hydrothermal vent in the Pacific Ocean in a region known as the "Pacific Ring of Fire."

  • Hyperthermophilic Archaea, H2, and Microbial Evolution

    • The most hardy hyperthermophiles yet discovered live on the superheated walls of deep-sea hydrothermal vents, requiring temperatures of at least 90°C for survival.
    • Other hyperthermophile archaea include Pyrolobus fumarii, which lives at 113°C in Atlantic hydrothermal vents, and Pyrococcus furiosus, first discovered in Italy near a volcanic vent.

  • Epsilonproteobacteria

    • There have also been numerous environmental sequences of Epsilonproteobacteria recovered from hydrothermal vents and cold seep habitats.
    • Often the epsilonproteobacteria living in hydrothermal deep sea-vents exhibit chemolithotrophic features, and they are able to meet their energy needs by reducing or oxidixing chemical compounds.

  • Hyperthermophiles from Submarine Volcanic Habitats

    • Thermophiles are found in various geothermally heated regions of the Earth, such as deep sea hydrothermal vents.
    • Large populations of animals can be supported by chemosynthetic secondary production at hydrothermal vents, methane clathrates, cold seeps, whale falls, and isolated cave water.

  • Diverse Cell Forms of Methanogens

    • Methanosarcina acetivorans is a versatile methane producing microbe which is found in such diverse environments as oil wells, trash dumps, deep-sea hydrothermal vents, and oxygen-depleted sediments beneath kelp beds.