In Brief
- In 2000 researchers discovered a new kind of undersea hydrothermal vent system that they named the Lost City.
- Over the past few years analyses of samples collected from the site have revealed the site’s unique chemistry, as well as the microorganisms that exploit it.
- The findings hint that life may have originated in an environment like the Lost City.
Few places on Earth’s continents remain to be explored, and it is unlikely that many new natural wonders await discovery in some forgotten corner. But below the ocean surface is a different story. We know more about the facade of Mars than about the 75 percent of our own planet’s surface that lies underwater. Untold surprises await us there.
One such revelation occurred in December 2000. An expedition mapping a submerged mountain known as the Atlantis Massif, midway between Bermuda and the Canary Islands and half a mile under the surface of the North Atlantic, came across a pillar of white rock as tall as a 20-story building rising from the seafloor. Using the remotely operated ArgoII vehicle and the manned submersible Alvin, scientists surveyed and sampled the mysterious formation. Although time constraints limited their investigation to a single Alvin dive, the researchers were able to collect enough information to determine that the white pillar was just one of several such structures in the area that were emitting heated seawater. They had discovered a field of undersea hot springs they named the Lost City Hydrothermal Field. It was unlike anything seen before, including the now famous black smokers.
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4 Comments
Add CommentIs there a theory about how these vents become populated with methanogens? Presumably, old vents close and new ones open up over time. Do the new vents become populated by emigres who float across the open ocean from older vents? Are methanogens common in the rocks near the mantle, and thus simply well-up to the surface as the vents form?
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What has the study of the DNA of lifeforms found around these vents and others revealed?Isn't about time we had some answers?Instead of endless speculation from this magazine and others.
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