This deep-sea hydrothermal vent was one of many recently discovered in the Gulf of California by a team of scientists from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI). The water from some of these vents is at least 300 degrees Celsius (570 degrees Fahrenheit). The “black smoke” emanating from this chimney is mineral grains that form upon mixing of hydrothermal fluids and the near-freezing seawater.
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