Hundreds of hydrothermal nozzles undulating the seabed
The new underwater map reveals towering towers and hydrothermal vents rising from the sea floor in the dark off the Pacific Northwest. Hydrothermal vents of all sizes in the ocean floor off the US coast. Photo: MBARI. Nozzles emit superheated water heated by magma deep in the Earth. The field of hydrothermal vents extends along the sea floor in the Juan de Fuca Plate in the northwestern coastal state of Washington, in an area called Endeavor Segment. The study of Endeavor spray circuit started in the 1980s. Previously, scientists identified 47 nozzles in 5 large fields. But recent expeditions by underwater automatic means (AUV), operated by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), reveal that there are more than 500 orifice concentrated in an area 14 km long and 2 km wide. .