The Black Smokers

 Discovering Black Smokers Unknown of the Ocean Base

The Enigmatic Black Smokers

Do you ever consider those black enormous chimneys which release the dark clouds of smoke from the bottom of the sea? These fascinating structures which are also referred to as black smokers are quite wonders of the underwater geophysical geography and are home to a myriad of young research interests and biological importance.

Hydrothermal vents and black smokers

Black smokers are a sort of hydrothermal vent that exists on the boundaries of tectonic plates and the areas of volcanic activities. These vents are formed through the hot water that is procured through cracks in the floor of the sea, by the under ground geological heat. The water is progressively heated and turns into steam, which goes up along with various dissolved minerals and materials from the Earth’s crust.

When this superheated, mineral-laden water is expelled from the seafloor, it mixes with the colder seawater which makes the dissolved minerals to set and hence form the black chimney like structures known as black smokers. The black color of these structures has resulted from flows of sulfur-related materials as well as iron sulfides which is expelled by vent.

This blog explores the high level of diversity that is found in Black Smokers.

Thus, one can see that in spite of the horrible conditions in the black smokers, these hydrothermal vents are full of specialized organisms. It is a world of seething water heated with minerals that make it to support a variety of plant and animals.

Around the black smokers there is a number of adapted smaller organisms like chemosynthetic bacteria and archaea. It is due to these microbes that many other species such as shrimp, crabs, tubeworms, and even certain species of fish are able to exist, since they are nourished by these microbes.

The fauna and flora existing in the vicinity of black smokers can be viewed as unique and rare, as much of the species that can be observed in this area are unique to the overwhelming majority of the Earth’s regions. These regions are thought to be among the most biologically productive and rich parts of the ocean, perhaps coming close to even the most colourful coral reefs.

It also erected in importance black smokers.

Black smokers also pointing towards the fact that various organisms that exist in the world aids in the functioning of geochemical and ecological structure. They are significant for the deposition of mineral precipitation where the deposited minerals create huge sulfide ores that may contain valuable metals like copper, zinc, and Au.

These mineral deposits have received much attention from the mining fraternity because they may contain exploitable minerals. But at the same time, the significance of black smokers for the ecosystem has also stimulated attempts to prevent the negative impacts of such activity as mining, on these rare and sensitive biological communities.

Besides their economic and resource significance, black smokers help to explain the evolution of our planet and the emergence of life on it. The conditions prevailing at these hydrothermal vents are thought to resemble the geophysical conditions that prevailed at the early stage of Earth’s formation; consequently, the works have given out a great perception on the evolution of life within Earth.

A study on black smokers and their characteristics

As much as researchers have learnt about black smokers from their scientific study, one can still say that there is much more to discover about such features in the ocean floor. New techniques in deep sea drilling have unveiled many more mysteries of this famous locale, but there certainly is more to learn.

In the future, as continue to explore and research more on black smokers, new information regarding the intricacies of the Earth’s geochemical and ecological systems will probably be discovered as well. As to the above-mentioned enigmatic structures, they still hold the potential to introduce the spectators to the incredibly rich and diverse life on the globe and to stimulate further research works of both scientists and omniscients.

Conclusion

Black smokers are rather unique and mysterious structures on the ocean floor meaning that they hold extensive scientific and ecological value. They are the vents through which minerals and resources are precipitated and mined; the windows into the beginnings of life on planet Earth, and such fascinating formations that leave the scientific minded individuals enthralled even today.

Thus, as we proceed in our research on black smokers, we should be able to discover even more compelling information on the web of systems that sustain our mother Earth. Scientists, nature lovers or any person who has an interest in the natural occurrences in the world will be able to find something appealing in the black smokers of the ocean floor and possibly gain even more respect for the life that exists on the planet.

Reference:

1.      Botos, S. "Life on a hydrothermal vent". Hydrothermal Vent Communities.

2.      Van Dover, C. L. "Hot Topics: Biogeography of deep-sea hydrothermal vent faunas". Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

3.      Beatty, J.T.; et al. (2005). "An obligately photosynthetic bacterial anaerobe from a deep-sea hydrothermal vent". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 102 (26): 9306–10. Bibcode:2005PNAS..102.9306B. doi:10.1073/pnas.0503674102. PMC 1166624. PMID 15967984.

4.      Dodd, Matthew S.; Papineau, Dominic; Grenne, Tor; Slack, John F.; Rittner, Martin; Pirajno, Franco; O'Neil, Jonathan; Little, Crispin T. S. (2 March 2017). "Evidence for early life in Earth's oldest hydrothermal vent precipitates" (PDF). Nature. 543 (7643): 60–64. Bibcode:2017Natur.543...60D. doi:10.1038/nature21377. PMID 28252057. S2CID 2420384.

5.      Zimmer, Carl (1 March 2017). "Scientists Say Canadian Bacteria Fossils May Be Earth's Oldest". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 March 2017.

6.      Ghosh, Pallab (1 March 2017). "Earliest evidence of life on Earth 'found'". BBC News. Retrieved 2 March 2017.

7.      Van Dover 2000

8.      Lonsdale, Peter (1977). "Clustering of suspension-feeding macrobenthos near abyssal hydrothermal vents at oceanic spreading centers". Deep Sea Research. 24 (9): 857–863. Bibcode:1977DSR....24..857L. doi:10.1016/0146-6291(77)90478-7. S2CID 128478123.