Sentences with phrase «of hydrothermal activity»

Cassini, which began its journey over two decades ago, facilitated the publication of more than 3,000 scientific papers with the data it collected and is responsible for several major discoveries, including liquid methane seas on Titan and evidence of hydrothermal activity on Enceladus.

The team describes newly discovered geological and biological manifestations of hydrothermal activity at two sites on young abyssal hills flanking the East Pacific Rise, a fast - spreading portion of the global mid-ocean ridge system.

Among the probe's major discoveries were Titan's liquid methane seas and a global ocean on Saturn's moon Enceladus that showed evidence of hydrothermal activity.

The findings, described in the journal Nature, are the first signs of hydrothermal activity on another world outside of Earth — and raise the chances that Enceladus has the potential to host microbial life.

Newly discovered geological and biological manifestations of hydrothermal activity at two sites on the sea floor to the west of Central America are reported by Haymon, lead author, and three other UCSB geologists in the February issue of the journal, Geology.

But the signal is contested, and there's no evidence yet of hydrothermal activity.

Suggestions of hydrothermal activity on Europa led researchers to speculate that life there could resemble ecosystems around hydrothermal vents on Earth and would survive on chemosynthesis, extracting energy from chemicals.

This is partially because oxygen, which causes the iron to precipitate, had not yet entered the ocean to great depths, and also because the seafloor at that time contained abundant iron released by bursts of hydrothermal activity.

Over the years researchers have come up with a number of possible explanations: an ancient sea once covered the valleys; fierce winds carry the salt there from the surrounding oceans; the region sees a lot of hydrothermal activity; chemical or physical weathering of the rocks raises the concentration.

The presence of hydrothermal activity in Enceladus that could last for such a long time has major implications for the potential for life to evolve.

Volcanic and tectonic controls on the distribution and characteristics of hydrothermal activity at mid-ocean ridges; geochemistry of rock - water interactions and the rate of the associated hydrothermal fluxes in global geochemical mass balances.

Forged and altered by volcanic and tectonic processes that are intimately linked to the deep earth, they are also being targeted by mining companies that hope to harvest the minerals that often collect around seamounts as a result of hydrothermal activity.