The phrase
"hydrothermal systems" refers to natural systems where hot water mixes with the Earth's crust. It often creates geothermal features like hot springs or geysers.
Full definition
In addition, he notes, evaluating the fine structure of calcium carbonate mineralization deposited
in hydrothermal systems during different periods of Earth's evolution may offer insights into which microbes lived at which times.
«Because it is relatively cold, Lost City has been posited as a potential analogue
of hydrothermal systems in active icy moons.
Many distant worlds have never received as much light as Earth, but it is suspected that some of them have
hydrothermal systems similar to Earth's deep - sea vents.
Using infrared data collected at Mars by spacecraft, they can interpret which minerals are there and describe the geology of
ancient hydrothermal systems.
Unlike conventional power plants that rely on near - surface
hydrothermal systems like springs and geysers, EGS can draw energy up to depths of three to five kilometers.
Cultivation - Independent and Cultivation - Dependent Analysis of Microbes in the Shallow -
Sea Hydrothermal System Off Kueishantao Island, Taiwan: Unmasking Heterotrophic Bacterial Diversity and Functional Capacity — Kai Tang — Frontiers in Microbiology
«We've really improved our understanding of the origin of abiotic hydrocarbons in all ridge - crest
hydrothermal systems by identifying specifically where carbon is being transformed within the vent fluid circulation pathway,» said Jill McDermott, lead author of the study and a recent graduate of the MIT / WHOI Joint Program in Oceanography.
The Akebono prospect is a low - sulphidation epithermal gold - silver vein target, exhibiting quartz vein textures typically associated with «boiling zone» gold precipitation in
such hydrothermal systems.
«We predicted the peak ring would be a
big hydrothermal system,» says Gulick, a geophysicist at the University of Texas, Austin.
This study highlights the importance of deep ocean water circulation through
hot hydrothermal systems as one of the main removal processes in this environment balancing the supply.
This is only the
third hydrothermal system of its type that has been sampled, yet millions of similar environments exist in the deep sea.
By contrast, the findings of this new study suggest that
extensive hydrothermal systems operated in an enclosed impact crater at Sudbury, Ontario, Canada.»
These sub-marine, isolated impact basins, which experienced basaltic volcanism and were equipped with their
own hydrothermal systems, thus present a new pathway to synthesis and concentration of the stepping stones to life.
Farmer helped select the landing site for Mars Pathfinder and thinks that the Mars Surveyor and Mars Odyssey spacecraft now in orbit have begun the job of meeting the first - stage requirements of finding potential
ancient hydrothermal systems — for example, the Mars hematite site at Terra Meridiani.
Finding out how methane and other organic species are formed in deep -
sea hydrothermal systems is compelling because these compounds support modern day life, providing energy for microbial communities in the deep biosphere, and because of the potential role of abiotically - formed organic compounds in the origin of life.
The stunning implication is that
submarine hydrothermal systems, fueled by the heat of volcanic processes, can support life in the absence of sunlight.
Life on Earth likely began
in hydrothermal systems (environments where hot water reacts with rocks), and there is abundant evidence for many locations where hydrothermal environments exists on Mars at the time when life might have originated in similar environments on Earth.
The impact aftermath killed most life on Earth, but the crater itself (bottom)-- shown with a central peak — remained hot long after the blast, perhaps creating
a hydrothermal system similar to deep - sea vents.
«One of the big unknowns has been how long do
these hydrothermal systems last.»
«It seems to vary by volcanic complex, but most people think it's the movement of magma and other fluids that leads to pressure - induced vibrations in cracks within volcanic and
hydrothermal systems.»
But where does the energy for
the hydrothermal systems that drive the transport of matter come from?
«Whether those were extensive globally or more localized in
these hydrothermal systems is not clear in the data that we have.»
* David Kring explores
the hydrothermal system triggered by the impact, including metasomatism (lithologic chemistry altered by hot fluids), and how the system could have incubated new life as it cooled over thousands of years post-impact.
«The bombing, however locally devastating, creates quite an ample supply of hydrothermal altered rock and
hydrothermal systems, worldwide,» says Mojzsis.
[Response: Water reacts with igneous rocks in
hydrothermal systems, exchanging some ions for some others.