James Holden explores life thriving at undersea volcanoes. In 2012, scientists completed a first-ever study with detailed data on the limits of life that thrives deep in the cracks of hot undersea volcanoes, places called hydrothermal vents.
The microbes that live in the ocean depths inhale hydrogen and carbon dioxide and exhale methane. And they might even give scientists answers to questions about alien life, beyond Earth. EarthSky spoke to study co-author and microbiologist James Holden of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He told us: There is a tremendous, enormous amount of microbial biomass living within the Earth’s crust in the sediments. Hydrothermal vent. Physical properties[edit] Hydrothermal vents in the deep ocean typically form along the mid-ocean ridges, such as the East Pacific Rise and the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.
These are locations where two tectonic plates are diverging and new crust is being formed. The water that issues from seafloor hydrothermal vents consists mostly of sea water drawn into the hydrothermal system close to the volcanic edifice through faults and porous sediments or volcanic strata, plus some magmatic water released by the upwelling magma. In terrestrial hydrothermal systems, the majority of water circulated within the fumarole and geyser systems is meteoric water plus ground water that has percolated down into the thermal system from the surface, but it also commonly contains some portion of metamorphic water, magmatic water, and sedimentary formational brine that is released by the magma.