thermal vents
Seafloor heat sources
Thermal vents are openings in the earth's surface where geothermally heated water escapes, especially the hydrothermal vents found on the ocean floor near volcanic activity.
Deep-sea thermal vents support unique ecosystems of organisms that thrive without sunlight, deriving energy from chemicals in the superheated water: Scientists discovered new species clustered around the thermal vents.
- extremophilesOrganisms surviving extreme conditions
- black smokersSeafloor structures emitting superheated water
- chemosynthesisEnergy from chemical reactions
- hydrogen sulfideToxic gas, foul-smelling
- primordial soupHypothetical life-origin mixture
alien life · heat · giant clams · magma chambers · volcanic activity · rift valleys · mineral deposits · lost city · fumaroles · submersibles · seafloor · subduction zones · tube worms · archaea · deep-sea currents · ocean depths · tectonic plates · tectonic activity
- heatheat transfer, heatwave, radiation, convection, insulators
- Geothermal Featuresgeyser, fumarole, geysers, hot spring, hot springs
- landformsmountain, cliff, valley, volcano, mountain ridge
- hot thingsfire, flames, lava, magma, molten lava
- Earth processesplate tectonics, erosion, weathering, volcanism, sedimentation
- IcelandReykjavik, volcano, volcanoes, geyser, geysers
thermal ventssurface waters
Water exposed to air
coral reefs · tidal pools · coastal waters · continental shelf