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Scientists commit submersed robots into the depths of the Pacific , about 1.5 miles ( 2.5 kilometre ) beneath the surface , and discovered something unexpected : a football game field - size of it expanse of towering hydrothermal vents that cropped up in an field these underwater lamp chimney have n’t typically been seen .
The outlet , shaped like candelabrum , stand roughly 35 to 40 feet ( 10 to 12 meters ) tall , or about as improbable as three - story buildings , the research squad leaders , from Lehigh University , said in astatement . These striking structures jet sinister , mineral - filled piddle that reachestemperaturesof up to 694 degrees Fahrenheit ( 368 degrees Celsius ) , although the water likely start out at an even higher temperature , airless to 818 F ( 437 C ) , the team determined . Such high temperature hint that a volcanic volcanic eruption may occur at the internet site in the next few years .
Researchers surveyed hydrothermal vents in the Pacific using temperature loggers manufactured by EP Oceanographic. The loggers collect data every ten minutes, in order to track changes in vent fluid temperature that can be used to infer changes in permeability of the crust beneath the vent.
The newfound vent field is located about 200 mile ( 321 km ) off the sea-coast of western Mexico , in the East Pacific Rise , a range of underwatervolcanoesthat expand nearly from the Gulf of California to Antarctica .
" We were astounded that not only was the field very active , but it is larger in area and hotter in descent temperature than any other hydrothermal vent field known along this portion of the East Pacific Rise that has been studied for the past 30 twelvemonth , " Daniel Fornari , a marine geologist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts and a co - generator of the report , said in the statement .
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The remotely operated vehicle (ROV) “Jason” samples 694 F (368 C) black smoker fluids using titanium syringe-style samplers for analysis in the McDermott laboratory at Lehigh University.
As a midocean ridge , the East Pacific Rise marks a region wheretectonic platesinEarth ’s crust are broadcast apart and molten rock and roll is rushing in to fill the opening , accord to theMonterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute . The magma ’s campaign triggers volcanic eruption and creates crack in the crust , allowing water to trickle down into the fractures , get superheated by the raging rock below and then spud back up through the seafloor , forming hydrothermal volcano .
Most hydrothermal vents give away on the East Pacific Rise have been find along the " axis " of the ridge — the denture boundary where the spreading occurs — where magmatic activity has work a 54- to 109 - yard - wide ( 50 to 100 meter ) trough . By comparison , the newfound release field was discovered about 820 grand ( 750 m ) east and 4.3 miles ( 7 kilometre ) north of these previously known vents .
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" Although 750 m may not seem like a great distance from the axis , known vents are so tightly localized in the [ axial summit trough ] that this discovery put up out as something very different , " William Seyfried , leader of the Aqueous Geochemistry Lab at the University of Minnesota , and Jeffrey Karson , loss leader of the Oceanic Lithosphere Tectonics Group at Syracuse University , compose in acommentaryabout the research .
These so - called off - axis venthole likely derive their heat from a different source than the vents establish on the axis vertebra , said Seyfried and Karson , who were not demand in the new subject area . The discovery hints that there are more hydrothermal vents in the deep sea than once thought and that these off - axis of rotation vents could serve as a " before long underappreciated root of heating system and chemicals that might be significant on a spheric scale , " they wrote .
" There is much still left to be describe about rich - sea venthole along the global mid - ocean ridge , both in term of where they are located as well as their geological , geochemical and biologic characteristic , " lead generator Jill McDermott , chemical oceanographer and faculty penis in Lehigh University ’s Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences , say in the statement . " I hope our subject will move succeeding research efforts to target function off - axis area along the world-wide mid - ocean ridge crest to better measure the extent of off - axis of rotation versus on - axis hydrothermal discharge . "
McDermott and her confrere release their finding July 21 in the journalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences .
Originally published on Live Science .
