6.+Plate+Tectonics

Like just about everything in Earth Science, this strange feature is related to plate tectonics. Really, it’s just a hot geyser, like at Yellowstone National Park, only under 10,000 feet of seawater. These features, called hydrothermal vents, are found where lava eruptions hit seawater in regions where new ocean crust is being created. The hot water coming from the vent explodes from the release of pressure. Once in the cold seawater, sulfide minerals precipitate out, creating the "smoke" in the photo. As the sulfide minerals fall, they create the chimney-like structure in the photo.

Many hydrothermal vents are home to unusual life forms.

More Resources
 [|Plate Tectonics-- Difference between crust and lithosphere] [|Structure of the Earth] [|Plate Tectonics -- Evidence of plate movement] [|Plate Tectonics -- Geological Features of Divergent Plate Boundaries] [|Plate Tectonics-- Geological features of Convergent Plate Boundaries] [|Plates Moving Due to Convection in Mantle] [|Hawaiian Islands Formation] [|Compositional and Mechanical Layers of the Earth] [|Seismic Waves] [|Why S-Waves Only Travel in Solids] [|Refraction of Seismic Waves] [|The Mohorovicic Seismic Discontinuity] [|How we know about the Earth's core] [|Pangaea]