hydrothermal vents

A detailed Summary of hydrothermal vents

Hydrothermal Vents are considered by scientists to be very unique and complex communities of organisms. The reason for this is due to the fact that unlike most other organisms, Hydrothermal Vents are not powered by the sun's energy. Most organisms on the Earthąs surface depend on plants to produce nutrients from sunlight. This process is called photosynthesis. These communities are unique in that they depend on a different food-making process other than photosynthesis. Bacteria at the vents make sugar by a process called chemosynthesis. Rather than light they depend on the chemicals that are released into the water by the vents. Bacteria use chemical energy to produce organic food molecules. The Vent organisms are dependent on the bacteria just as animals at the surface depend on plants for food production.

Hydrothermal Vents form at mid-ocean ridges.

This is where the planet's crustal plates are slowly spreading apart and magma is coming up from below to form mountain ranges. As cracks form at these spreading centers, seawater seeps a mile or two down into the hot rock. Enriched with minerals leached from the rock, the water heats and rises to the ocean floor to form a vent (Stover).

This is done through a process called chemosynthesis. Chemosynthesis organisms are sulfide-oxidizing bacteria. Hydrogen sulfide is given off by the vents on the sea floor. The bacteria take the sulfur in the hydrogen sulfide and oxidize it producing energy. H2 + S ---> H2S + energy. This energy drives all life forms in the deep sea vents, producing sugars, fats, and amino acids in living forms very much as plants do, but based on sulfur. Like photosynthesis this process is highly complex, but it sustains a huge numb

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Approximate Word count = 577
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Science

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hydrothermal vents

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