A “black smoker” on Dive 11.
Black Smoker
Image courtesy of NOAA Ocean Exploration, 2016 Deepwater Exploration of the Marianas. Download larger version (jpg, 920 KB).

A “black smoker” seen on Dive 11 of the 2016 Deepwater Exploration of the Marianas expedition. Where the super-hot vent fluid meets very cold ambient sea water (2°C) of the deep sea, minerals that are carried in the fluid precipitate out of solution, forming spectacular vent chimneys. We measured the temperature of the vent fluid at 339°C.

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