geothermal vents
Ocean floor fissures
Geothermal vents are openings in the Earth's surface where heated water or steam escapes from underground.
The term usually refers to hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor, where superheated water rich in minerals erupts from volcanic activity beneath the seabed.
These deep-sea vents support unique ecosystems of organisms that thrive without sunlight: Scientists discovered new species near the geothermal vents.
- black smokersSeafloor structures emitting superheated water
- extremophilesOrganisms surviving extreme conditions
- magma chambersSubsurface molten rock reservoirs
- tectonic platesMobile crustal sections
- hydrogen sulfideToxic gas, foul-smelling
giant clams · lost city · hot springs · fumaroles · chemosynthesis · primordial soup · tube worms · seamounts · fault lines · renewable energy systems · subduction zones · iron oxides · ocean floor · magma · sediment layers · crabs · scalding · superheated
- American geologyGrand Canyon, Yellowstone, Rocky Mountains, Appalachians, Sierra Nevada
- IcelandReykjavik, volcano, volcanoes, geyser, geysers
- Rotorua-TaupoRotorua, geysers, hot pools, mud pools, Hell's Gate
- Salton SeaNorth Shore, brine, dead fish, tilapia, shoreline
- geologybedrock, fault lines, faults, rock, basalt
- volcanicslava, magma, volcanoes, eruptions, lava flows
geothermal ventsglaciers
Slow-moving ice masses
ice sheets · polar ice caps · permafrost · icebergs · frozen tundra