Scientists Find A Whole New Ecosystem Hiding Beneath Earth's Seafloor

In the past 46 years of research, however, no one had ever thought to peerStripping back the seafloor's shell has now revealed a colorful ecosystem of worms, snails, and chemosynthetic bacteria, which don't rely on sunlight but on minerals for energy."Our understanding of animal life at deep-sea hydrothermal vents has greatly expanded with this discovery,""Two dynamic vent habitats exist.

This could explain why so few of their young are ever seen congregating around deep volcanic fissures. Most may be maturing below the surface.To test this hypothesis, researchers used a remotely operated vehicle, called SuBastian, to clear a square of ocean floor on the East Pacific Rise off Central America, roughly 2,500 meters deep. The team then glued a mesh box over the top of this now lifeless site.

When they removed the box a few days later, researchers found new animals had colonized the area. They must have arrived there from beneath the seafloor's many cracks and fissures.The results of these findings will be published in the coming months, but if what researchers say is true, then future deep-sea mining excavations could profoundly disturb this newly found ecosystem.

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