What do cold seeps and hydrothermal vents have in common?

Unlike the chemicals around hydrothermal vents, cold seeps are similar in temperature to the surrounding waters. Seeps also tend to be more stable than hydrothermal vents. Hydrothermal vents are relatively short-lived, but cold seeps are long-lasting. ... The base of the food web is also different in cold seeps.

1. How are whale falls cold seeps and hydrothermal vents alike?
2. What is a hydrothermal vent most similar to?
3. What is the relationship between hydrothermal vents and thermocline?
4. What seeps out of hydrothermal vents?
5. How common are whale falls?
6. How long can a whale fall last?
7. What are cold methane seeps?
8. Why do hydrothermal vents have chimneys quizlet?
9. Which elements are present at a hydrothermal vent ecosystem?
10. What is unusual about life and these hydrothermal vents?
11. What kinds of unusual life can be found associated with hydrothermal vents?
12. How did hydrothermal vents create life?
13. What is unique about cold seeps?
14. Where are cold seeps found?
15. How do cold seep communities affect Earth's climate?

How are whale falls cold seeps and hydrothermal vents alike?

Rates of sulfide production are equivalent to those at hydrothermal vents and cold seeps, suggesting that whale falls provide comparable habitat islands rich in chemical energy at the deep-sea floor. ...

What is a hydrothermal vent most similar to?

Hydrothermal vents are like geysers, or hot springs, on the ocean floor. Along mid-ocean ridges where tectonic plates spread apart, magma rises and cools to form new crust and volcanic mountain chains. Seawater circulates deep in the ocean's crust and becomes super-heated by hot magma.

What is the relationship between hydrothermal vents and thermocline?

Temperature. Thermocline of the tropical ocean. The two areas of greatest temperature gradient in the oceans are the transition zone between the surface waters and the deep waters, the thermocline, and the transition between the deep-sea floor and the hot water flows at the hydrothermal vents.

What seeps out of hydrothermal vents?

Hydrothermal vents form at locations where seawater meets magma. A venting black smoker emits jets of particle-laden fluids. The particles are predominantly very fine-grained sulfide minerals formed when the hot hydrothermal fluids mix with near-freezing seawater.

How common are whale falls?

But whale falls might be relatively common. Smith estimates that, based on current whale populations and whale-fall community persistence, dead whales may occur roughly every 5 to 16 km along the seafloor off the Pacific coast of North America.

How long can a whale fall last?

This is by far the longest stage in whale falls: it might last from 10 to 50 years, or more. The so-called sulfophilic stage owes its name to the sulfide produced by bones due to the action of chemosynthetic bacteria, who use sulfate to break down the lipids inside the bones and produce sulfide.

What are cold methane seeps?

A cold seep (sometimes called a cold vent) is an area of the ocean floor where hydrogen sulfide, methane and other hydrocarbon-rich fluid seepage occurs, often in the form of a brine pool. Cold does not mean that the temperature of the seepage is lower than that of the surrounding sea water.

Why do hydrothermal vents have chimneys quizlet?

Why do hydrothermal vents have chimneys? The formation of ice would reduce the volume of water in the ocean, causing the global sea level to go down. ... This has allowed oceanographers to map the ocean floor much more quickly than by using echosounders.

Which elements are present at a hydrothermal vent ecosystem?

Within the hydrothermal vents are seafloor massive sulfides (SMS), whereby the vents create sulfide deposits containing valuable metals such as silver, gold, manganese, cobalt, and zinc.

What is unusual about life and these hydrothermal vents?

Discovered only in 1977, hydrothermal vents are home to dozens of previously unknown species. Huge red-tipped tube worms, ghostly fish, strange shrimp with eyes on their backs and other unique species thrive in these extreme deep ocean ecosystems found near undersea volcanic chains.

What kinds of unusual life can be found associated with hydrothermal vents?

Hydrothermal vents are home to unusual deep-ocean ecosystems that include giant tubeworms, large clams, beds of mussels, and many other creatures.

How did hydrothermal vents create life?

By creating protocells in hot, alkaline seawater, a research team has added to evidence that the origin of life could have been in deep-sea hydrothermal vents rather than shallow pools. ...

What is unique about cold seeps?

Cold seeps develop unique topography over time, where reactions between methane and seawater create carbonate rock formations and reefs. These reactions may also be dependent on bacterial activity. Ikaite, a hydrous calcium carbonate, can be associated with oxidizing methane at cold seeps.

Where are cold seeps found?

Cold seeps are places on the seafloor where cold hydrocarbon-rich water escapes. They occur most often at tectonic plate boundaries. Carbonate deposits and communities of organisms are often found at these sites.

How do cold seep communities affect Earth's climate?

How do cold seep communities affect Earth's climate? They prevent greenhouse gases from escaping. ... They form around large deposits of oil and natural gas.