Publication Date:
2005-03-05
Description:
The serpentinite-hosted Lost City hydrothermal field is a remarkable submarine ecosystem in which geological, chemical, and biological processes are intimately interlinked. Reactions between seawater and upper mantle peridotite produce methane- and hydrogen-rich fluids, with temperatures ranging from 〈40 degrees to 90 degrees C at pH 9 to 11, and carbonate chimneys 30 to 60 meters tall. A low diversity of microorganisms related to methane-cycling Archaea thrive in the warm porous interiors of the edifices. Macrofaunal communities show a degree of species diversity at least as high as that of black smoker vent sites along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, but they lack the high biomasses of chemosynthetic organisms that are typical of volcanically driven systems.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Kelley, Deborah S -- Karson, Jeffrey A -- Fruh-Green, Gretchen L -- Yoerger, Dana R -- Shank, Timothy M -- Butterfield, David A -- Hayes, John M -- Schrenk, Matthew O -- Olson, Eric J -- Proskurowski, Giora -- Jakuba, Mike -- Bradley, Al -- Larson, Ben -- Ludwig, Kristin -- Glickson, Deborah -- Buckman, Kate -- Bradley, Alexander S -- Brazelton, William J -- Roe, Kevin -- Elend, Mitch J -- Delacour, Adelie -- Bernasconi, Stefano M -- Lilley, Marvin D -- Baross, John A -- Summons, Roger E -- Sylva, Sean P -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2005 Mar 4;307(5714):1428-34.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉School of Oceanography, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA. kelley@ocean.washington.edu〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15746419" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Animals
;
Archaea/classification/*growth & development/isolation & purification/metabolism
;
Bacteria/classification/*growth & development/isolation & purification/metabolism
;
Biodiversity
;
Biomass
;
*Carbonates
;
Colony Count, Microbial
;
*Ecosystem
;
Environment
;
Fishes
;
*Geologic Sediments/chemistry/microbiology
;
Hot Temperature
;
Hydrogen/analysis/metabolism
;
Hydrogen-Ion Concentration
;
*Invertebrates
;
Lipids/analysis
;
Methane/analysis/metabolism
;
Phylogeny
;
*Seawater
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
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