Reservoirs of magma and fluids in the crust create gravity anomalies detectable by altimetry, which can help find submarine volcanoes and provide key insights into their depth, shape and volume.
hydrothermal systems
Posted inNews
Arctic Hydrothermal Vents May Resemble Those on Enceladus
By studying hydrogen-rich vent sites on Earth, scientists could learn more about the hidden ocean of Saturn’s icy moon—one of our solar system’s likeliest candidates for harboring life beyond Earth.
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Mid-Ocean Ridges Could Be Dispersing Thermophilic Bacteria
Scientists suggest that two strains of endospores located more than 4,000 kilometers away from one another originated in the same place: along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.
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Martian Meteorite Points to Ancient Hydrothermal Activity
The Red Planet had water—in the form of a hydrothermal system—4.45 billion years ago, new analyses of a Martian meteorite suggest.
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Lost City’s Plumbing Exposed by the Longest Mantle Core Ever Drilled
The core, which is 71% complete, reveals millions of years of geologic history and the plumbing underlying hydrothermal vents.
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The Tonga Eruption Left Deep-Sea Life Buried in Ash
When Hunga erupted in 2022, ash “decimated” slow-moving species living on the seafloor. More mobile species were able to hoof it out of harm’s way.
Posted inEditors' Vox
The Not-So-Silent Depths
A new book reveals that ocean depths are far from silent voids, but are actually alive with noise.
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Steamy Bubbles May Control Old Faithful’s Clock
Scientists built a minigeyser to show why the natural wonder’s water surges so violently between eruptions.
Posted inOpinions
A Transformative Carbon Sink in the Ocean?
Water-rock reactions in some hydrothermal systems produce both hydrogen, which could be tapped for clean energy, and alkaline solutions that could help draw down atmospheric carbon dioxide.
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Meteor Impact Site Holds 200-Million-Year-Old Atmospheric Snapshot
Minerals formed in short-lived hydrothermal systems set off by a meteor impact in France preserved information about noble gases in the ancient atmosphere.