Jordan Streblow Earth/Environmental Science Dennis

OCEANIC DISCOVERY MEANS LIFE IN THE DEEPEST DEPTHS OF THE OCEAN!

1977 edition

Jordan Streblow, now a world famous Oceanographer, discovered what may lead to many new discoveries on the ocean floor. His great discovery is called hydrothermal vents! While in his submersible (Alvin) near the Galapagos Islands, he caught sight of some bubbles popping up, from deeper down in the oceans depths. Curious, he actually went deeper and saw something like nobody has ever seen. He described it as being other worldly, you cant even imagine what I saw down there, so many animals congregated towards the warmth of those underwater geysers, absolutely spectacular. How do these magical hot spots form? Jordans advisor Jesse Ray, a Marine Geologist says that in some areas along the Mid-Ocean Ridge, the enormous plates that form the Earth's crust are moving apart, creating cracks and even trenches in the ocean floor. Seawater seeps into these openings and is heated by the molten rock, or magma, that lies beneath the Earth's crust. As the water is heated, it rises and searches for a path back out into the ocean through an opening in the seafloor. He actually believes there may be more vents just waiting to be discovered, with the tectonic plates currently spreading in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. He suspects that cracks formed from such spreading may introduce molten rock to pressurized salt water. This will lead to many new vents just waiting to be explored. As the vent water bursts out into the ocean, its temperature may be as high as 750 F! Yet this water does not boil because it is under so much pressure from the enormous weight of the ocean above. When the pressure on a liquid is increased, its boiling point goes up too! Despite having no light, extreme temperature, and an unbelievable amount of pressure, life has adapted to survive in such harsh conditions. These creatures whom live in darkness, from bacteria to tubeworms, to even shrimp and crabs, may light the way to the development of new drugs, industrial processes, and other products useful to all of us. Who knows what many new discoveries lie ahead in this unknown place of wonder and imagination?

http://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=7557

http://www.ceoe.udel.edu/deepsea/level-2/geology/vents.html http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/sci/A0824736.html