Hydrothermal Vents, or "Black Smokers"

The image below shows a hydrothermal vent belching sulfide-rich hot water into the ocean. The black "smoke" is created as sulfide minerals form in the mixing process between vent water and colder ocean water. These minerals settle and can accumulate to great thicknesses. Gold is sometimes concentrated in them and may be mined from the sea floor in the future. Notice the tube worms to the right. These worms are part of a food web based on chemosynthetic bacteria that live off of the energy provided by the sulfide-rich vent waters. It is possible that the earth's earliest life forms evolved in an environment like this.

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