Deep-Sea Vents and Life's Origins. Seafloor spreading generates new ocean crust, but it may also have created conditions necessary for the beginning of life on Earth.
At mid-ocean ridges, molten lava pushes through breaks in the crust during amazing undersea volcanic eruptions. This molten rock quickly cools, and as it does, it contracts, forming long cracks and fissures. Ocean water seeps into these cracks to a depth of several kilometers, where it is heated by magma in Earth's mantle to as much as 350 degrees Celsius (660 degrees Fahrenheit). This superheated water then rises and eventually emerges from hydrothermal vents in the ocean floor as an underwater geyser. When the hot vent water meets cold ocean water, dissolved minerals in the vent water precipitate.
Ocean Video & Map GREEN. Click on a biome on the above graph for more information, informative videos, and links to scientist profiles, travel information, lesson plans and species profiles for each region.
We'd like to know where you're coming from. If you've used this site for a class project or browsing for fun, add yourself to our map and communicate with other "ecogeeks" NatGeo Maps-Sunken Treasure. KidsGeo Ch.8 Water on Earth. Tooter4Kids-Ocean PowerPoint. To The Ocean By: Susan Stein The tide recedes but leaves behind bright seashells on the sand....
The sun goes down but gentle warmth still lingers on the land.... World Biomes-Tropical Oceans. World Biomes- Temperate Oceans. Water Poems.