Idea or model
Ocean zones
The ocean is layered by depth. Only the upper 200 meters gets enough light for photosynthesis, and below 1,000 meters it is completely dark.
Hydrothermal vents
Hot springs on the seafloor, first explored on the Galápagos Rift in the late 1970s, where whole communities run on chemical energy.Source: Corliss et al., 1979Source: NOAA
Structure
How Hydrothermal vents connects
Hydrothermal vents is part of
Hydrothermal vents is the site of
Process
Chemosynthesis
Making food from chemical energy instead of light. At vents, bacteria inside tube worms oxidize hydrogen sulfide to feed their hosts.
Studied in
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Sources & further reading
The explanations on this page are our own summaries of these sources. Follow a link to read the original; if anything here disagrees with it, the original wins. How we choose and check sources.
Submarine thermal springs on the Galápagos Rift (opens the original in a new tab)
Corliss JB, Dymond J, Gordon LI, et al. (1979). Science 203:1073-1083.
Report of the first hydrothermal vent communities observed on the sea floor.
Peer-reviewedPrimary researchFactsheet: Hydrothermal Vents (opens the original in a new tab)
NOAA Ocean Exploration. oceanexplorer.noaa.gov. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Fact sheetGovernment source