Oh, hey, that's a big thing. I don't know if this is 60 feet
tall but. It's in the step of the right direction. We are at
the Moytirra Hydrothermal Vet Field discovered in two
thousand nine. Unique in that is the only high-temperature
hydrothermal vet field north of the Azores and south of the
Charlie-Gibbs Fracture Zone. I think this is the one that was
described as the Fomorian chimney. They described it as showing slender
organ pipes topped with beehive diffusers. It's great because
the limpets look like a bunch of bees that are clustered on
the outside. You can see literally thousands of limpets
and dozens and dozens of shrimp and the food supply that
they're using is the bacteria that are taking advantage of
the reduced chemicals that is coming out with that quote
unquote smoke, the precipitating minerals that are
coming out of that water. The highest temperature reading we
saw was about 52° Celsius.
It was hydrothermal vents that got me into science in the
first place. I went to college as a fine arts major and
learned about hydrothermal vents and I said I've got to see
that with my own eyes and so it's nice to come full circle
and visit it again.
Anytime we have the opportunity to observe these features, it's
really amazing and something to be cherished.