Annie04
03-05-2005, 07:17 AM
Good read..
New organisms found in research field in Atlantic
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON
A strange world of see-through shrimp, crabs and other life forms teems around a newly explored field of thermal vents near the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, scientists report.
Towering white mineral chimneys mark the field, named the Lost City, a sharp contrast to the better-known black smoker vents that have been studied in recent years.
The discovery shows "how little we know about the ocean," said the lead researcher, Deborah S. Kelley of the University of Washington.
"I have been working on black smokers for about 20 years, and you sort of think you have a good idea what's going on," she said in an interview. "But the ocean is a big place and there are still important opportunities for discovery."
The Lost City was discovered by accident in 2000 as Kelley and others studied undersea areas near the midocean ridge.
They returned to the area in 2003 to analyze what they had found and were startled to learn how different the new vent environment and its residents were from the ones studied before.
Their findings are reported in today's issue of the journal Science.
Black smokers are chimneylike structures that form when very hot water - reaching 700 degrees Fahrenheit - breaks through the ocean floor and comes into contact with frigid ocean water. The minerals that crystallize during the process give the chimneys their black color.
At Lost City, on the other hand, the temperature of the escaping fluids is 150 degrees to 170 degrees. The environment is extremely alkaline, compared with the high acid levels at black smokers.
At first the scientists thought there were few animals in Lost City. Then they vacuumed the surface of the white vents and found large numbers of tiny shrimp and crabs, mostly transparent or translucent and less than a half-inch in size, that had been hiding in nooks and crannies, Kelley said.
Microbes found in the chimneys at Lost City, named for the research vessel Atlantis, appear to live off methane and hydrogen. There is little or no carbon dioxide, the key energy source for life at black-smoker vents.
Journalnow.com
New organisms found in research field in Atlantic
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON
A strange world of see-through shrimp, crabs and other life forms teems around a newly explored field of thermal vents near the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, scientists report.
Towering white mineral chimneys mark the field, named the Lost City, a sharp contrast to the better-known black smoker vents that have been studied in recent years.
The discovery shows "how little we know about the ocean," said the lead researcher, Deborah S. Kelley of the University of Washington.
"I have been working on black smokers for about 20 years, and you sort of think you have a good idea what's going on," she said in an interview. "But the ocean is a big place and there are still important opportunities for discovery."
The Lost City was discovered by accident in 2000 as Kelley and others studied undersea areas near the midocean ridge.
They returned to the area in 2003 to analyze what they had found and were startled to learn how different the new vent environment and its residents were from the ones studied before.
Their findings are reported in today's issue of the journal Science.
Black smokers are chimneylike structures that form when very hot water - reaching 700 degrees Fahrenheit - breaks through the ocean floor and comes into contact with frigid ocean water. The minerals that crystallize during the process give the chimneys their black color.
At Lost City, on the other hand, the temperature of the escaping fluids is 150 degrees to 170 degrees. The environment is extremely alkaline, compared with the high acid levels at black smokers.
At first the scientists thought there were few animals in Lost City. Then they vacuumed the surface of the white vents and found large numbers of tiny shrimp and crabs, mostly transparent or translucent and less than a half-inch in size, that had been hiding in nooks and crannies, Kelley said.
Microbes found in the chimneys at Lost City, named for the research vessel Atlantis, appear to live off methane and hydrogen. There is little or no carbon dioxide, the key energy source for life at black-smoker vents.
Journalnow.com