Hydrothermal Vents

Hydrothermal Vents

Hydrothermal vents are the fissures in the surface of the ocean from where, sea water, which has been drawn into the hydrothermal system through faults, is released with pressure. These vents appear like black smoke and have been enlisted as one of the ‘Seven Wonders of the Underwater World’. Mostly these hydrothermal vents occur along mid ocean Ridges, where tectonic plates move apart or the place with volcanic activity. The water released from the vents is geo thermally heated and carries various minerals with it which is good for the corals, bacteria and other aquatic species, though the condition is not the same at extreme depths. At extreme depths, the water released is in its supercritical stage, remaining liquid at temperatures up to 4650 C due to extremely high pressure.

It is believed that hydrothermal vents are very important for generation of life on earth and according to the theory of Iron Sulfur World, proposed by Gunter Wachtershauser, a cycle of early metabolism started with the chemicals released by the vents and further gave rise to genetics.


The water released from Hydrothermal Vents has a high acidity and have a pH value similar to that of vinegar. For humans too, these vents have proved to be of great use by providing an easy source for extracting minerals.
Credits: Image Source- Google Images

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Historic inventions of archaeological importance, fun to know

Image
Archaeological gems Most people think that this is the scientific era and all the inventions have been done in the recent years only, but these astonishing artifacts show that even in ancient times, people were interested in science and they too knew a lot about it. Antikythera mechanism   This is the world’s oldest gear system used to calculate the positions of sun, moon and eclipse positions. Following link will provide the detailed information about the subject. Antikythera mechanism Ancient chemical warfare The evidences of an ancient chemical warfare from Roman times (around 256 AD) have been found in the city of Dura-Europos. 20 armed dead bodies of Roman soldiers were found in a 2 m wide and high counter tunnel dug by them to counter the Persian tunnel. Being armed and not having any physical wounds, the reason of the deaths of 20 soldiers at once was a great mystery. The only possible solution to this question is that Persian ambushed them with poisonous ga...
Read more

Bell Rock Lighthouse

Image
Bell Rock Lighthouse Bell Rock is the world’s oldest surviving sea lighthouse constructed on an offshore reef in Scotland and is one of the ‘Seven Wonders of the Industrial World’ because of the challenges that were faced in building the lighthouse. It has been constructed on a rock named as Bell Rock which was named so because of an attempt to install a warning bell on it in 14 th century.  Though the bell was successfully installed, it was stolen by a Dutch pirate after just one year of installation. Being an offshore reef, Bell Rock was a major cause of Shipwreck before the construction of the lighthouse in 1810, since it remained immersed for about 20 hours a day even in low tide. Around 6 ships were lost every winter and more than 60 ships were lost in one storm. The construction of Bell Rock lighthouse was proposed by the Scottish engineer Robert Stevenson in 1799 and the proposal got approved in 1806 after the all the crew of the warship HMS York died in Wreckag...
Read more

List of Indian states with demographics and other details

Image
All about India India is a beautiful country in South East Asia. It is the seventh largest in size and comes at the second place in population in the world. There is a lot of diversity in every aspect of this country, whether you talk about the climate, geography, culture, religion, people, languages complexion, music, eating habits or any other field. Following Charts intend to provide a deep insight about my place ‘India’ as per 2011 census. Name India Flag Currency Rupee ( `) Area (km 2 ) 3,287,240 Population 1,210,193,422 Population Density (per km 2 ) 382 Rural Population 833,087,662 Urban Population 377,105,760 Number of Males 623,724,248 Sex Ratio (number of females per 1000 males) 940 Literacy Rate (%) 74.04 82.14 Life Expectancy (years) 67.46 Number of...
Read more