In the deep ocean, hydrothermal vents are often oases of life, with bacteria at the vents serving as the basis of the food web in areas completely devoid of light.
During the first part of the 2016 Deepwater Exploration of the Marianas expedition, three dives focused on looking for active hydrothermal vent sites and documenting the incredibly dense communities of animals these sites often support. On one of these dives, we discovered a new active high-temperature “black smoker” hydrothermal vent field on the Mariana back-arc spreading center that was composed of multiple chimneys, including one that was over 30 meters (98 feet) tall. The field included at least two different chimney sites, plus multiple areas of diffuse flow and a circular crater feature (origin as yet undetermined) with extinct sulfides. We also saw extinct hydrothermal chimneys on another dive and extinct iron oxide chimneys in Esmeralda crater.
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Video courtesy of NOAA Ocean Exploration, 2016 Deepwater Exploration of the Marianas.