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In a new example of just how much we\u2019re learning about our fascinating deep seas, researchers have announced the discovery of the first known hydrothermal vents in the Doldrums Megatransform and Fracture Zone.\u00a0 Because of its tectonic activity, the Doldrums Fracture Zone is full of bizarre organisms that have adapted to live in these harsh, deep waters. Many of these lifeforms are unlike anything we know on land.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHere, tectonic plates scrape and slide past one another, creating fascinating geologic formations like fault scarps and sedimented basins, both of which can host areas of chemically altered seawater and deep-sea ecosystems,\u201d writes\u00a0Schmidt Ocean Institute<\/a>\u00a0on its website.\u00a0<\/p>\n When researchers spent more than one month exploring the mid-Atlantic, their remotely operated vehicle (ROV)\u00a0SuBastian<\/em>\u00a0 stumbled upon something they weren\u2019t expecting: two rare types of hydrothermal vent fields in and around the Doldrums.\u00a0<\/p>\n Hydrothermal vents are known along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge but this is the first time they\u2019ve ever been observed in the Doldrums.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis discovery shows why exploration still matters,\u201d says the expedition\u2019s chief scientist,\u00a0Dr. Aaron Micallef<\/a>, a scientist at MBARI (Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute) in a\u00a0press release<\/a>. \u201cEven in the Atlantic Ocean, where plate boundaries have been studied for decades, there are still places where the first close look can reveal something entirely new.\u201d<\/p>\n One of the two fields was gigantic: around 24 acres \u2013 the equivalent of 14 football fields \u2013 and made up of 23 hydrothermal vents. 13 of those had active\u00a0black smokers<\/a>: hot vents that spew out dark smoke like a burning building (as opposed to white smokers, which are cooler and spit out paler steam-like streams). When scientists measured the fluids coming from the vents, they found them to be an almost unimaginable 280 degrees Celsius.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\nLocated around 800 miles off the coast of Brazil, just north of the equator, this region of the Atlantic Ocean intersects the Mid-Atlantic Ridge: the longest mountain range on the planet.\u00a0<\/p>\n