Scientists have discovered a new ecosystem hiding under the Earth’s seabed
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Under the seabed of the Pacific Ocean, an international team of researchers has discovered evidence of the existence of life. This is reported by Science alert. Aquanauts aboard a ship from the Schmidt Ocean Institute used an underwater robot to flip slabs of volcanic crust in the ocean. They discovered a new ecosystem hidden beneath another, providing new evidence that life exists in unlikely places. Researchers used a remotely operated vehicle called SuBastian to clear a square of ocean floor on the East Pacific Rise off Central America, about 8,000 feet deep. Vulcanoctopus near mussels and tubeworms. Photo: ROV SuBastian/Schmidt Ocean Institute/CC BY-NC-SA The team then glued a mesh box over the ravaged area. A few days later, the box was taken away and it was discovered that the area had been inhabited by new animals. “On land, we have known about animals living in underground cavities for a long time, and in the ocean – about animals living in sand and mud, but for the first time, scientists looked for animals under hydrothermal springs,” says Jyotika Virmani, executive director of the institute. An eel swims near a tube tower. Photo: ROV SuBastian/Schmidt Ocean Institute/CC BY-NC-SA In the 1970s, scientists discovered hydrothermal vents that spew hot, mineral-rich fluids into the deep ocean. Despite the darkness of these depths, life was raging there. However, in the last 46 years of research, no one has ever tried to look under the hot springs of the ocean. Destruction of the shell of the seabed revealed a colorful ecosystem of worms, snails and bacteria that take energy not from the sun, but from minerals. Trumpeters found near hydrothermal vents “This discovery greatly expanded our understanding of animal life in deep-sea hydrothermal vents. Animals living above and below the surface thrive together in unison, depending on the fluid below and the oxygen in the seawater above,” says ecologist Monica Bright from the University of Vienna. Scientists consider the most fascinating animals to be trumpeters, which travel under the sea floor through volcanic fluids to colonize new habitats. The mesh box experiment The results of the findings will be published in the coming months, but if what the researchers say is true, then future deep-sea excavations could seriously disrupt this newly discovered ecosystem. “Discoveries made during each Schmidt Ocean Institute expedition highlight the need to fully explore our ocean so we know what exists in the deep sea. This discovery shows how much we still have to discover about our ocean and how important it is to protect what that we don’t yet know or understand,” says Wendy Schmidt, president and co-founder of the Schmidt Ocean Institute. Read also: The collapse of the currents of the Atlantic Ocean may happen in 2060. What will be the consequences
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