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Focused vents
Focused hydrothermal vents form sulfide chimneys and black smokers where high-temperature hydrothermal fluids exit the seafloor from a small orifice. These fluids come almost directly from the high-temperature reaction zone above the magma reservoir, and mix very little with cooler seawater during their ascent to the vent. The fluids are between 200 and 400°C as they exit the seafloor. When they contact the cold seawater, they precipitate sulfide particles containing Zinc, Copper, Iron, Lead, Cadmium, and Silver. All these elements are dissolved from the volcanic rock by the highly corrosive hydrothermal fluids.
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Related video clips:
Inferno chimney at ASHES | Inferno flame | Hell vent | Temperature probe at Hell vent

Related Virtual Sites:
ASHES | CASM | Castle

Other NeMO-related concepts:
Mid-ocean ridges | seafloor spreading | seamounts & hot spots | calderas | Axial volcano
Hydrothermal vents | fluid paths | focused vents | diffuse vents | sulfide | anhydrite
Animal Gallery | chemosynthesis | biological colonization of new lava

Lava morphology | sheets | pillows | lava contacts | skylights | pillars | the 1998 flow
NeMO at Axial | the 1998 eruption | the rumbleometer story | lava flow animation

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