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Snowblower hydrothermal vent

Snowblower hydrothermal vent
Snowblower hydrothermal vent
Snowblower hydrothermal vent
Snowblower hydrothermal vent
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203652
Haymon, R. and Fornari, D.
Snowblower hydrothermal vent
Still Image
04/23/1991
2372-1-15.06.21.tif
A snow blower vent blasts white clouds of bacteria and bacterial matter from the seafloor at 9°50'N on the East Pacific Rise at a depth of 2,500 meters (8,250 feet). From Alvin dive #2372.
Image Of the Day caption:
Scientists diving in the submersible Alvin in 1991 found themselves in something that looked like a snowstorm on the bottom of the sea. They had arrived soon after a seafloor volcanic eruption in which hydrothermal vents spewed huge volumes of white bacterial matter into the ocean at 9°50'N on the East Pacific Rise at a depth of 2,500 meters (8,250 feet). Rachel Haymon (UC Santa Barbara) and Dan Fornari (WHOI) were chief scientists on the expedition that made the first direct observation of these so-called "snowblower" vents and offered initial clues to a "deep biosphere" with potentially large populations of microorganisms living within the ocean crust at mid-ocean ridges.
Photo by R. Haymon, D. Fornari, and the Alvin Group
© Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
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