#cold seep

[cjankwanz]

Cold seep

[earthstory]

In this surreal photograph, the remotely-operated submersible Hercules hangs illuminated over the shoreline of a small and murky lake, some four thousand feet under the surface of the sea in the Gulf of Mexico. Such an image seems so alien to us surface-dwellers as to defy logical explanation, but it is actually a common feature of the oil-rich Gulf - pools of salty brine and hydrocarbons, seeping up from the rocks below. The liquid settles on the sea floor, being much denser than water, forming the nucleus of a bizarre 'cold seep' ecosystem. Cold seeps were discovered in the eighties by US Navy subs, and were explored soon afterwards. The brine lakes were the most striking features of the sites (tales being told of exploration vehicles floating on the surface of the dense liquid), but around them the seabed was found to be teeming with deep-water life: shoals of sluggish fish, slow-growing tube worms and huge beds of mussels, which turned out to possess tissues filled with chemosynthetic bacteria producing energy by metabolising the methane rising from the oil-rich bedrock. The mussels and their dependant hordes of fish, crabs, amphipods, and the like, were a self-contained ecosystem, surviving purely on energy from methane; like the better-known hydrothermal vent systems, which rely on hydrogen sulphide, the animals of the cold seep successfully exist without any energy input from the sun.

Cold seeps and hydrothermal vents are popular candidates for the sites where life first arose. Similar systems may exist in deep oceans on other worlds, and the search for alien life forms in our solar system is likely to focus on searching for sites such as these on the moons of the gas giants.

-TJT

Photo courtesy of the Nautilus Expedition (2014) To see a stunning video of the Nautilus expedition submersible exploring the brine pool in the Gulf of Mexico, go to their website : http://www.nautiluslive.org/video/2013/07/31/brine-pool-underwater-lake For more about the formation of these bizarre features, read this great article on the Ocean Explorer website: http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/02mexico/background/brinepool/brinepool.html_ [

](https://www.facebook.com/TheEarthStory/photos/p.2345596008834763/2345596008834763/?type=3&theater#)_

[typhlonectes]

Dive 08: Chiridota Sea Cucumber

During Dive 08 of the expedition, we encountered many of these bizarre-looking sea cucumbers from the genus Chiridota. While these sea cucumbers are often found at hydrothermal vents and cold seeps, very little is known about them and whether or not they are indeed chemosynthetic.

Video courtesy of the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, Gulf of Mexico 2017.

[youthchronical]

In a first for Canada, a First Nations member has been elected premier to lead a Canadian province - Times of India

WINNIPEG: In a first for Canada, the voters of Manitoba have elected a First Nations member to be premier of one of the country’s provinces. Wab Kinew led the New Democratic Party to winning a majority of seats in Manitoba’s legislature in Tuesday’s election, knocking the Progressive Conservatives from power. He will now lead Manitoba’s government as premier. “Manitobans voted for better health…

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[xfthemist]

-sketch pg.1

[xfthemist]

--**Local Morioh Stand interrogates S City chefs for, quote: “Serving my boys garbage-” stating local Italian eatery “--would never treat us like this.” More at 11.

[xfthemist]

--Cold Seep Tuesdays are back with another round feat.✨seasonal depression✨! !!!

[xfthemist]

-- for you :)

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