In the Cayman Trough, some 3.1 miles below the surface of the ocean, are what’s being called the world’s deepest underwater vents. Basically, these vents are openings to another world, and out of them pour super-potent mineral-rich water hot enough to melt lead! These vents, called black smokers due to the high amount of black iron sulfide, are also the centerpieces to some of the most unusual environments in the world, home to all manner of weird extreme ocean life.
Living beside a black smoker is kind of like living beside an active volcano while being crushed under thousands of pounds of metal. Generally, only specially-adapted creatures can live under these conditions. In the Pacific, there are tube worms and giant clams. In the Atlantic, there are eyeless shrimp and other weird fishies. These conditions are like what we might find on another planet, so this is as close as we can get to studying another world without actually traveling to another planet.
Tags: black smoker, Caribbean Sea, underwater vent, world’s deepest underwater vent, Cayman Trough, geology, weird science, unusual geological events, deepest underwater vents
