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An Octopus’s Garden: Deep Sea Hydrothermal Vents (March 4, 2005, One)

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Program Summary

Giant tube worms. Enormous clams. Sounds like a pirate’s bad dream. But these creatures really exist, and in the strangest place – the bottom of the sea. They live around hydrothermal vents in the Pacific Ocean, where cracks in the Earth’s crust allow seawater to be warmed by underwater volcanic action, providing a hospitable environment for some weird organisms. We’ve known about these vents for about 30 years, but about 5 years ago, scientists stumbled upon an unknown field of vents in the Atlantic Ocean. They named the field the Lost City, after the fabled lost city of Atlantis.

The tall mineral chimneys of the Atlantic, which average about 80 feet tall, look very much like the Pacific ones and support their own community of animals. Unlike the Pacific vents, however, the Lost City doesn’t get its heat from volcanoes. Instead, seawater that seeps through cracks in the crust has a chemical interaction with the warm rocks below, resulting in a brew that is likened to liquid Drano, but which produces enough warmth to host a variety of life forms from microscopic cells to small snails. How do these organisms survive the tremendous deep sea pressure that would crush other animals? A study has found that microorganisms at that level have developed genes that react to changes in pressure and signal the need for adaptation.

All of these discoveries would not have been possible without the much-loved deep sea submersible Alvin. Alvin has made over 3,700 dives all over the world, but she’s due for retirement and will be replaced soon by Alvin II, an streamlined, updated version of the invaluable little sub.

Guests

Cindy Lee Van Dover. associate professor of biology at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia

Deborah Kelley, oceanographer at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington

Douglas Bartlett, professor of marine biology at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego in
La Jolla, California

Related Links and Resources

National Science Foundation, December 11, 2000: Huge New Hydrothermal Vent System Found
Science News for Kids, July 30, 2003: Snapshot: Undersea Vent System Active for Ages
Scientific American, December 13, 2000: Lost City of Hydrothermal Vents
Space.com, July 23, 2003: Undersea World Points to Possible Origin of Life, Maybe Even ET
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute Marine Operations: Alvin
WHOI Marine Operations - Proposed New Alvin

For Discussion:

• What are hydrothermal vents?
• How do the Lost City vents differ from the Pacific vents? How do their animal populations differ?
• How are the Lost City creatures able to survive in such a caustic environment? What might this tell us about the possibility of extraterrestrial life?
• How are microorganisms able to withstand the intense pressure of the deep sea? How did scientists discover this?
• What are the difficulties of studying deep sea life?

Activities

Ahoy, matey! Take part in a deep sea dive to a hydrothermal vent at Ocean AdVENTure!, a thorough and well-designed site from Thinkquest. Along the way, students view movies of undersea volcanoes and other phenomena, listen to an eruption, and learn about the risks of such a dive. On the InterActivities page, they’ll learn about pressure, sound, mapping, and navigation.

Dive, dive, dive! Alan Alda explores the ocean on Beneath the Sea, a series of broadcasts from PBS “Scientific American Frontiers.”

In Life Above Boiling, the discoverer of the Pacific vents tells his story and wonders about life on other planets. Students can watch episodes online and test their knowledge interactively at Livin' in the Sea (requires Shockwave). Classroom activities and a quiz can be found at the accompanying teaching quide.

Weirdly wonderful. The Deep Sea from Ocean Link takes a look at strange sea creatures and explains how they’ve adapted to their challenging environment. You’ll also find a page devoted to the discovery of hydrothermal vents and a section devoted to them at Deep Sea Biology Q & A. Students study the different layers of the ocean and created a “Life Under the Sea” museum exhibit at

Sea No Evil, a lesson plan from the New York Times Learning Network.

Deep dark secrets. The Ocean Science room of the Smithsonian’s Ocean Planet exhibit is well worth a visit. It’s all about deep sea exploration and is stuffed with photos, interactives, and scientific facts and figures. You can visit other rooms by clicking on them at the floorplan, and you’ll find a boatload of activities and resources on Educational Materials page.

Learn more about undersea life at Science Friday Kids’ Connection May 14, 2004, Hour Two: Life on the Bottom of the Sea: The Asphalt Jungle

Use the search box below to perform a Google search within any of the specifc sites or general domains mentioned in this Activities section.

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