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Basaltic biotope discovered
Pacific basaltic biotope discovered –
Article in „nature“ describes new sea floor biosphere
According to a paper published in “nature” on May 29th marine scientists have discovered a so far unknown deep-sea habitat. On board the 7 metre long submersible ALVIN they undertook several dives in water depths of about 2,500 metres in the East Pacific and came across unusually high concentrations of bacterial communities on the sea floor. In this area the sea floor is made up of young basaltic lavas composed of volcanic glass. The lavas are thickly populated by microorganisms, with cell densities 1,000 to 10,000 times greater than in the overlying ocean water. Prof. Wolfgang Bach says: “We were surprised by the very high bacterial community richness of this basalt-hosted ecosystem”. Bach, a marine geologist working at the MARUM Center for Marine Environmental Research at Bremen University in north-western Germany, points out that the study reveals the decisive role that bacteria play in the cycling of matter at the sea floor.
More: nature, May 29th, p 653
Volcanic sea floor of the East Pacific. Here the authors of the nature study discovered the basalt biotope.
On board the US-American research vessel ATLANTIS: The submersible ALVIN is being launched.