(Describer) Under a round logo of a wave, title: Ocean Today.
(male narrator)
The earth cracks open.
Fluid and minerals spew
from the seafloor.
Water shimmers,
life abounds.
We're looking
at hydrothermal vents,
originally discovered
near the Galapagos Rift in 1977.
(Describer) Gray plumes rise through cracks.
Basically, a hydrothermal vent
is a hot spring
produced
by underwater volcanoes
or tectonic activity.
But what's really cool
about them
is the abundance and assortment
of life that exist there.
It's not life like
we're used to on the surface.
It's adapted to the dark
conditions of the deep ocean.
Organisms that live around
hydrothermal vents
don't rely on sunlight
and photosynthesis.
Instead, bacteria and archaea
use a process
called chemosynthesis
to convert minerals
and chemicals in the water
into energy.
This bacterium is the base
of the vent community food web
and supports hundreds
of species of animals.
What kinds of animals?
Scientists on the NOAA ship,
Okeanos Explorer,
went to the rift
in 2011.
Here's just some
of what they saw:
Riftia tube worms,
also called giant tube worms,
can grow to almost five feet
long in less than two years;
Bathymodiolus,
deep-sea muscles,
are often the first creatures
to colonize the vent
and are able to survive briefly
after the vent is inactive;
serpulid,
or feather duster worms;
and Tevnia tube worms,
which are often the food
of choice for vent crabs,
the top predator
of the vent community.
But it's not
all animals down there.
Researchers also saw
white, flocculent material
erupting from the vents
like a snow blower,
indicating microbial life
beneath the seafloor.
And, of course,
there were fresh lava flows,
which means the seafloor
is continuing to change,
and that change means
there's always more to learn.
(Describer) Title: Narrator: Dustin Parkhurst
Logos are shown for the Smithsonian and NOAA.
Accessibility provided by the US Department of Education.
Accessibility provided by the
U.S. Department of Education.
