[工学]2海洋基础知识.pptVIP

Geologists found a vent! After temperature-sensitive equipment returned small temperature changes at one site along the Rift, cameras were sent to the same site and returned with pictures of heaps of clam shells. Repeated submarine dives to the same site revealed temperatures as high as 46.4 degrees and a variety of unusual organisms. The reaction of biologists Biologists were astonished at the density of deep sea life in vent areas. What did all of these organisms eat? Were they related to the deep sea organisms biologists already knew about? Teeming vent shrimp The unusual vent life forms were different from any others recorded by scientists to date. A new age in deep sea biology and ecology had begun! Spaghetti worms What is a hydrothermal vent? At a hydrothermal vent, sea water that has sunken into cracks in the ocean crust and been heated by the interior of the earth escapes through crust cracks back into the ocean. Superheated water beneath the oceanic crust often dissolves minerals from nearby rocks. As hot vent fluids meet cold ocean water, minerals precipitate（坠落） out of vent fluids. Precipitating minerals often give vent fluids different colored “smoky” appearances. Precipitating minerals can fall out of vent fluids to form “chimneys” (like the one on the right) and other formations on the sea floor. Without sunlight, how does a vent food web begin? In areas of the earth that receive sunlight or are near areas that receive sunlight, photosynthesizing (光合作用) plants are the basis of the food chain. Using the energy of the sun, plants turn water and carbon dioxide into carbohydrates. Carbohydrates （碳水化合物）are energy for plants and for the organisms who eat plants. Bacteria are the green plants of hydrothermal vents （热泉喷口）. Through a process known as “chemosynthesis”（化合作用）, bacteria use the energy in hydrogen sulfide dissolved in vent fluids to join water and carbon dioxide into carbohydrates. Vent communities food chains are based on the