Jiaolong discovers giant 鈥榗himney vent鈥
Print Edition
CHINA’S deep-sea manned submersible “Jiaolong” has discovered a huge active “chimney vent” 20 meters tall and 2 meters wide in a hydrothermal area of the southwestern Indian Ocean.
After finishing all of its planned work on Monday, the vessel explored the eastern area of the seabed. Its resident scientist Shao Zongze was excited by what he saw.
“We saw a giant active chimney vent, which was a big surprise,” Shao said, adding that vents of such a size “have rarely been seen.”
The sub’s pilot filmed the vent and measured it using a laser range finder.
“We didn’t have enough time to measure its inner temperature or to collect samples of sulfides, hydrothermal fluid or living creatures,” said Shao, a researcher with the Third Institute of Oceanography of State Oceanic Administration.
He said that there were mussels, shrimps and fish around the vent.
Deep-sea chimney vents, or hydrothermal sulfide, are a kind of seabed deposit containing copper, zinc and precious metals.
“Jiaolong” found clues to the active vent on Monday, north of a hydrothermal area called Dragon Flag, which was the first of its kind to be discovered by Chinese scientists in 2007, Shao said.
After spending 6 hours in Dragon Flag, “Jiaolong” picked up the high temperature probe it placed there on January 12 and took samples of deep-sea water, hydrothermal fluid and living creatures.
“The probe recorded the temperature of a chimney vent for 21 days and we will analyze the data to discover whether there is regularity,” Shao said.
Reaching its deepest depth of 7,062m in the Pacific’s Mariana Trench in June 2012, “Jiaolong” is on a 120-day expedition in the southwest Indian Ocean.
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