(NLDO) - The strange world in the Arctic Circle may also be what humanity hopes to find on other planets.
Off the coast of Norway's Svalbard archipelago - a landmass within the Arctic Circle - and 3,000 metres below the seafloor, a "field" of hydrothermal vents opens up along the Knipovich Ridge, a 500-kilometre-long underwater mountain range that was previously thought to be quite normal.
A hydrothermal vent in Jøtul Field, below the Arctic Circle, is releasing what looks like black smoke - actually full of minerals essential for life - into the seawater - Photo: BREMEN UNIVERSITY
According to Science Alert, the first clues about this mysterious world will be revealed in 2022, as signs of hydrothermal chemical reactions in the area.
The remotely operated submarine MARUM-QUEST was sent down to a depth of more than 3 km, where it took photographs and collected water samples.
And there they found the Jøtul Field – a vast area of the seafloor filled with both active and extinct hydrothermal vents, as well as the distinctive shimmer of volcanic heat seeping into the water.
Jøtul Field lies right on the boundary between two of Earth's tectonic plates. The plates move very slowly away from each other, causing the crust to stretch and valleys and mountain ranges to develop.
Crustaceans cover an area with hydrothermal vents - Photo: UNIVERSITY OF BREMEN
Writing in the journal Scientific Reports, the authors say the Jøtul hydrothermal field is the first to be discovered along the Knipovich Mountains, is extremely slow-spreading, and is significant because it represents a new link between known hydrothermal environments nearby.
Co-author Gerhard Bohrmann, a marine geologist from the University of Bremen (Germany), explains that hydrothermal systems are where water seeps into the magma-filled ocean floor below, is heated, and then flows back up to the seafloor through cracks and fissures.
"On its way up, the fluid becomes enriched with minerals and dissolved material from oceanic crustal rocks, leaking back to the seafloor through tubular structures," said Dr Bohrmann.
At this depth, conditions are dark, freezing cold and surrounded by terrible pressure.
However, the hydrothermal system stretching 1 km long and 200 m wide or more has turned the area into a fertile, warm, mineral-rich field where countless creatures can cling to and live peacefully on the seabed.
Described as a “wonderland”, Jøtul Field not only promises to reveal a new ecosystem in the frozen Arctic Circle, but also has major implications in many other areas.
For example, paleontologists believe that hydrothermal systems are likely where life originated in the ancient oceans billions of years ago, because the pressure, temperature, and chemical richness there are thought to have created the reactions that gave rise to life.
Studying hydrothermal systems is also an indirect way to "go back in time" to understand the Earth when life first began.
In addition, hydrothermal systems are also where astrobiologists expect to help create and nurture alien life on worlds with underground oceans such as Jupiter's moon Europa or Saturn's Enceladus.
Therefore, understanding more about similar systems on Earth is also a way for humanity to get closer to alien life worlds.
Source: https://nld.com.vn/phat-hien-xu-so-than-tien-sau-3000-m-duoi-day-bien-19624070408241951.htm
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