Deep sea bottom

This article describes the habitat of the deep sea bottom. It is one of the sub-categories within the section dealing with biodiversity of marine habitats and ecosystems.

Deep sea bottom

The bottom of the deep sea has several features that make the bottom a more diverse ecosystem. The main features are mid-oceanic ridges, hydrothermal vents, mud volcanoes, seamounts and cold seeps. But features such as canyons can also occur. Special forms of a diverse environment are the carcasses of large animals.

Mid-oceanic ridges

A mid-oceanic ridge is an underwater mountain range and is formed by plate tectonics. It is characteristic of an oceanic spreading center. The uplifted sea floor results from convection currents which rise in the mantle as magma and emerge as lava, creating the new crust upon cooling. It is the boundary between two tectonic plates. The mid-oceanic ridges are connected and form a single global mid-oceanic ridge system that is part of every ocean. The rang is approximately 65,000 kilometers long and the total length of the system is 80,000 kilometers. It can be occupied by a rift valley that is formed by geological forces that pulled apart and broke the solid rock. This process is called faulting. They are active features characterized by frequent, shallow earthquakes, many faults and widespread volcanism. It is also segmented by transform faults, where fractured rocks slide past one another. This causes a zigzag pattern. Hydrothermal vents and cold seeps are frequently found on these mid-oceanic ridges.

Mid-oceanic ridge

Hydrothermal vents

Due to the use of submersibles and more intensive acoustic mapping, unique and often diverse communities are found on features such as hydrothermal vents. These are islands in a sea of mud. The hydrothermal vents are associated with parts of the ocean floor that exhibit high levels of tectonic activity such as mid-oceanic ridges. In these regions, hot magma chambers occur near the seabed and heat up water that has permeated into the ocean floor. The water that has sinks down into cracks of the crust, are free of oxygen and potassium. After this step, calcium, sulfate and magnesium are also removed. When the water sinks deeper into the crust, calcium, sodium and potassium are added from the surrounding crust. At the deepest point, the fluids have reached their highest temperatures (350-400°C). Copper, zinc, iron and sulfur dissolve into the fluids. These hot fluids rise up and are released in the cold, oxygen-rich seawater at the sea bottom. The metals and sulfur combine to form black metal-sulfide minerals. This type of hydrothermal vents is called a black smoker. White smokers also exist and are a little bit cooler.

Hydrothermal vents - Black smokers

A huge biomass of associated organisms can be found. Because of the extreme conditions, the organisms need an alternative method of food supply. This production is autochthonous and related to the supply of reduced compounds from the vents. The primary production is generated by bacteria through chemosynthesis. The bacteria are chemoautotrophic and tend to be members of the most ancient Archaea. They can tolerate extremely high temperatures (called hyperthermophiles (80-115°C) and superthermophiles (>115°C)). Chemosynthetic bacteria can produce their own food from inorganic compounds without sunlight. They use energy derived from chemical reactions that involve substances such as ammonia ([math]NH_3[/math]), sulfides ([math]S^{2-}[/math]), nitrates ([math]NO_3^-[/math]) and sulfates ([math]SO_4^{2-}[/math]). The bacteria of the vents use sulfide ions and oxidize it to sulfur and sulfates. The energy produced by this process is used to produce food.

Reaction:

[math]CO_2 + H_2S + O_2 + H_2O \rightarrow CH_2O + H_2SO_4 [/math]

Mud volcanoes and seamounts

A mud volcano or mud dome is used to refer to formations created by geo-excreting fluids and gasses. The most abundant gas that is released is methane. Seamounts are mountains rising from the ocean floor that do not reach the water’s surface. They are typically formed from extinct volcanoes, which rise abruptly. It is estimated that there are 30,000 seamounts in the ocean, but only a few have been studied. They are hotspots of marine life. They can have their own localized tides, eddies and upwelling zones.

Distribution of seamounts

Cold seeps

Cold seeps are found along active and passive continental margins related to geological processes such as tectonically induced high-fluid pressures, petroleum or natural gas escape, catastrophic erosion and slides. The source of energy is methane-rich fluids of thermogenic and/or biogenic origin. But production of sulfide by sulfate reduction also plays an important role. Metanotrophic bacteria use methane to produce carbonates by methane reduction. The carbonates can react with calcium to form calciumcarbonate. Sulfate reducing bacteria use sulfate to form sulfides and this sulfide is oxidized by sulfur oxidizing bacteria and they release sulfate again into the seawater.

Overall reaction:

[math] CH_4 + SO_4^{2-} \rightarrow HCO_3^- + HS^- + H_2O[/math]

Cold seep with tube worms and bivalves

Carcasses

Carcasses of large animals from the overlying water column sink to the bottom. They produce much localized food hot-spots. The carcass first sinks slowly, but as the pressure increases the carcass will gather speed. It may take many hours to reach the bottom and it may be attacked during the downward journey. When the carcass reaches the bottom, it attracts many animals. A similar food fall is the nutritious marine snow. They accumulate in tick patches separated by relatively barren areas.

Whale carcass on the deep-sea bottom

References

The main author of this article is TÖPKE, Katrien Please note that others may also have edited the contents of this article. Citation: TÖPKE, Katrien (2008): Deep sea bottom. Available from http://www.coastalwiki.org/wiki/Deep_sea_bottom [accessed on 25-11-2024] For other articles by this author see Category:Articles by TÖPKE, Katrien For an overview of contributions by this author see Special:Contributions/Ktopke