1. Underwater Pavement.
- Author
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Perkins, Sid
- Subjects
- *
BIOTIC communities , *ORGANISMS , *ASPHALT , *OCEAN bottom , *MARINE sediments , *LIFE (Biology) , *BACTERIA , *CRABS , *MUSSELS , *SUBMARINE topography , *ECOSYSTEM health - Abstract
During explorations of the seafloor in the southern Gulf of Mexico in 2003, researchers discovered peculiar lavalike flows of asphalt that had gushed down the slopes of a steep undersea knoll. The now-solid swaths of hydrocarbon-based material are home to a thriving ecosystem, the scientists have found. When oceanographer Ian R. MacDonald and colleagues used remotely controlled undersea cameras to investigate, they spotted extensive deposits of solidified asphalt emanating from a fault near one knoll's crest. Thick mats of microbes blanket some areas of the asphalt deposits. In other spots, white crabs skitter among clusters of tubeworms and mussels. DNA analyses should reveal whether these asphalt-dwelling organisms are genetically distinct from similar creatures found elsewhere in the Gulf's waters. Researchers suggest that microbes at the base of the ecosystem's food chain are probably feeding either on hydrocarbons in some of the asphalt or on small amounts of dissolved hydrocarbons or sulfides still emerging from the ocean floor.
- Published
- 2004
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