Scientists have discovered a never-before-seen hydrothermal vent system hiding in a most unlikely location in the Arctic sea. The deep-sea vents, which spew out hot water and mysterious metals, are located in an area researchers thought was geologically dead.
The newly discovered holes, 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 inside the Arctic Circle. The field, which is called the 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) wide and contains a mix. of active and dormant discharges.
One of the largest holes, which has numerous chimneys and spreading rocky outcrops, is named Yggdrasil after the cosmic tree of life that connects the nine realms of Norse mythology. Another group of vents, known as the Nidhogg spring, takes its name from the serpent-shaped dragon that is shown to have lived in Yggdrasil and eaten away at its roots.
Researchers discovered the fantastic holes in 2022 during an expedition to the Knipovich Ridge – a 310-mile (500-kilometer) raised section of seafloor between Svalbard and Greenland. Researchers used remote underwater vehicles to photograph the vents and take samples of water bubbling from the chimneys. Some of the outputs reached as high as 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 was a big surprise because the Knipovich Ridge was previously believed to be geothermally dormant, the researchers said. wrote in a recent statement.
The ridge is located along the border between North America and Europe tectonic plates. Normally, 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 mantle and rises again through the seafloor, creating the vents.
However, the Knipovich Ridge is what scientists call “ultra-slow spreading,” meaning that the plates at this boundary move away at less than 0.8 inches (2 centimeters) each year, the researchers wrote. or 2015 study showed that most other plate boundaries move two to four times faster.
As a result of this slow tectonic movement, scientists hypothesized 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, the researchers noted that there are uncertainties about many of the vents’ other characteristics, including how old they are, what metals they contain, how much methane they pump into the ocean, and which organisms. thrive in these warm, chemically rich waters.
The research team is currently planning a return trip to Jøtul’s hydrothermal field to help fill in some of the knowledge gaps about this newly discovered seafloor void.