Scientists have discovered a never-before-seen hydrothermal vent system located in an unlikely place on the Arctic ocean floor. The deep-sea vents, which pump out scorching water and mysterious metals, are in an area that researchers thought was geologically dead.
The newly discovered vents, named after various entities from Norse mythology, lie at a depth of about 9,850 feet (3,000 meters) southwest of Spitsbergen, a Norwegian archipelago within the Arctic Circle. The field, named the Jøtul hydrothermal field after a race of creatures from Norse mythology known as giants, or “jötnar,” is about 3,300 feet (1,000 m) long and 650 feet (200 m) wide, and contains a mix of active and dormant vents.
One of the largest vents, which has multiple chimneys and sprawling rocky branches, is named Yggdrasil, after the cosmic tree of life that connects the nine realms of Norse mythology. Another set of vents, known as the Nidhogg Well, takes its name from the serpentine dragon said to live in Yggdrasil and gnaw at its roots.
Researchers discovered the fantastic vents in 2022 during an expedition to Knipovich Ridge, a 310-mile (500-kilometer) long elevated section of seafloor between Svalbard and Greenland. The researchers used remote underwater vehicles to photograph the vents and take samples of the water bubbling from the chimneys. Some of the outflows reached temperatures of up to 572 degrees Fahrenheit (300 degrees Celsius).
The researchers published their findings from the expedition on May 3 in the journal Scientific reports.
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The discovery came as a big surprise, as the Knipovich Ridge was previously considered a geothermal haunt, the researchers said. wrote in a recent statement.
The mountain range lies along the border between North America and Europe. tectonic platesNormally plate boundaries like this are a great place to find hydrothermal vents because they allow seawater to sink beneath the Earth’s crust, where it is superheated by magma in the Earth’s mantle and rises back through the sea floor, creating openings.
However, the Knipovich Ridge is what scientists call “ultra-slow spreading,” meaning the plates at this boundary move less than 0.8 inches (2 centimeters) apart each year, researchers wrote. Study from 2015 showed that most other plate boundaries are moving apart two to four times faster.
As a result of this slow tectonic movement, scientists had assumed that this region would be less geothermally active compared to other points along plate boundaries. But the new discovery shows that this is not the case.
In addition to the unusual location, researchers noted that there is uncertainty about many other characteristics of the vents, including how old they are, what metals they contain, how much methane they pump into the ocean and what organisms live in them. thrive in these warm and chemically rich waters.
The research team is currently planning a return trip to the Jøtul hydrothermal field to fill in some of the knowledge gaps about this newly discovered seafloor wonderland.