Discovered by the Royal Research Ship James Cook, Scientist unearthed a new deep sea volcanic vents in the southern ocean. This unearthing brings the total number of vents up to four in the last three years, giving speculations that deep sea vents are more common in the ocean. Researchers first noticed this vent near the South Sandwich Islands at a depth of around 520 meters in a newly discovered mineral spires three meters tall in which shimmering hot water was gushing at their peaks.
The deep sea vents are on the sea floor that are essentially hot springs that release mineral rich water that supply animals and microbes. There have only been around 250 deep sea vents discovered worldwide since the first one found only three decades ago. Many are found in mid ocean ridges along chains of undersea volcanoes, but few are found in the Antarctic. The researches focus on studying these deep sea vents is to understand the evolution of life and distribution in the deep ocean, also the microbes that thrive in new conditions , and he chemistry that the vents provide to the ocean.
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