A craggy landscape of towers emerges from the gloom not far from the peak of an underwater mountain that is located to the west of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.
After a remotely driven vehicle that was deployed to investigate, their milky carbonate walls and pillars give off an eerie ghostly blue appearance. They range in height from little stacks about the size of toadstools to a majestic monolith that is about 200 feet tall (60 meters).
The Lost City Hydrothermal Field is the environment in the ocean that has been venting for the longest period of time, and it was discovered there in the year 2000 by a team of researchers more than 700 meters (2,300 feet) below the surface. There is no other example of its kind that has ever been discovered.
At a minimum of 120,000 years, and maybe even longer, the upwelling mantle in this region of the Earth has been reacting with the saltwater to release hydrogen, methane, as well as other dissolved gases into the ocean. This process has been going on for at least 120,000 years.
This is the Lost City, a towering ecosystem in the middle of the North Atlantic. It’s completely unique, with life found nowhere else on Earth. And if someone wanted to destroy it? There’s nothing you could do about it. No laws. No consequences. Welcome to the High Seas… pic.twitter.com/mdG5wOsr5h
— Open Ocean Exploration (@RebeccaRHelm) August 22, 2022
Even though oxygen is not there, unique microbial communities are able to thrive in the cracks and fissures of the field’s vents because hydrocarbons are present there.
An profusion of snails and crustaceans can be found inhabiting chimneys that expel gases reaching temperatures of 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius). The presence of larger species including crabs, shrimp, sea urchins, and eels is uncommon but not entirely absent.
Even though the environment is extremely harsh, it appears to be teeming with life, and some researchers believe that it is important for us to pay attention to it and conserve it.
The only other hydrothermal field of its kind that remotely operated vehicles have been capable of finding so far is this one. However, it is likely that there are others just like it located elsewhere in the oceans around the globe.
Chemical processes on the seafloor deep below were responsible for the formation of the hydrocarbons that were created by the vents at the Lost City rather than carbon dioxide in the atmosphere or sunshine.
It is possible that life first emerged in a setting quite similar to the one we are in now due to the fact that hydrocarbons are the fundamental components of all living things. And not just on the globe we call home.
