Scientists have discovered a never-before-seen hydrothermal vent system hiding in a highly unlikely location on the Arctic seafloor. Deep-sea vents that pump out hot water and mysterious metals are found in an area 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 Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago beyond the Arctic Circle. The field, which is named Jøtul Hydrothermal Field after a race of beings from Norse mythology known as giants or “jötnar”, is about 3,300 feet (1,000 m) long and 650 feet (200 m) across, and contains a mixture of active and dormant vents.
One of the largest vents, which has several 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 Nidhogg’s Spring, got its name from a dragon-like serpent said to have lived in Yggdrasil and gnawed its roots.
Scientists discovered the fantastic vents in 2022 during an expedition to Knipovich Ridge – a 310-mile-long (500-kilometer) raised section of seafloor between Svalbard and Greenland. Scientists used remote underwater vehicles to photograph the vents and take samples of water bubbling from the chimneys. Some of the outflows reached as high as 572 degrees Fahrenheit (300 degrees Celsius).
The scientists 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 because the Knipovich Ridge was previously thought to be geothermally dormant. he wrote in a recent statement.
The ridge is located along the border between North America and Europe tectonic plates. Normally there are plate boundaries like this great place to find hydrothermal vents because they allow seawater to sink below the Earth’s crust where it is superheated by magma in the mantle and rises back up through the seafloor to form vents.
However, the Knipovich Ridge is what scientists refer to as “ultra-slow spreading,” meaning that the plates at this boundary are moving less than 0.8 inches (2 centimeters) apart each year, the researchers wrote. AND 2015 study showed that most other plate boundaries move apart two to four times faster.
As a result of this slow tectonic movement, scientists hypothesized that this area would be less geothermally active compared to other points along plate boundaries. But a new discovery shows that this is not the case.
In addition to the unusual location, the 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 which organisms. thrive in these warm and chemically rich waters.
The research team is currently planning a return trip to the Jøtul hydrothermal field to help fill some of the gaps in knowledge about this newly discovered wonderland on the seafloor.