March 4, 2021: Hydrothermal Vent
Image courtesy of NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, 2016 Deepwater Exploration of the Marianas. Download larger version (jpg, 1.1 MB).
This image shows an actively venting hydrothermal vent chimney shrouded in black smoke and covered with vent animals including shrimp, crabs, snails, and scale worms. During the first leg of the 2016 Deepwater Exploration of the Marianas expedition, three dives took place to explore along the Mariana back-arc, a deep rift valley where seafloor spreading is occurring and volcanic eruptions provide the heat to create hydrothermal vents and their unique biological communities, as imaged here.
From: Explorations in the Mariana Back-arc.