Minerals Report - International Seabed Authority

which grow about as high as a person. He pointed out red plumes on the top
of the tubeworms, giant clams growing to exceptionally large sizes were
found growing in the cracks between the lava flows, and hot springs that
were discharging enriched in hydrogen sulphide. Dr. Rona informed
participants that the clams have specially adapted to conditions and that they
have a high level of haemoglobin in their blood to extract oxygen from this
toxic environment and survive. He noted that studies on these life forms help
in studies of survival in toxic environments.
Dr. Rona stated that a question that the members of the expedition
asked themselves was how this ecosystem that contained this oasis of strange
new life forms in the deep dark ocean, was being supported. He stated that it
was discovered that support was in the form of bacterial material that blows
out of cracks in the seafloor and that accumulates like snow fall in the hot
spring areas. It was found that the bacteria microbes use chemicals, in
particular hydrogen sulphide that is dissolved in the hot springs and that
comes from the underlying rocks, as an energy source to obtain carbon,
hydrogen and oxygen from the surrounding seawater. They then combine
them into carbohydrates to sustain themselves. He said that the microbes, in
turn, sustain the higher life forms that eat them such as the tubeworms and
clams. Professor Rona emphasized that the oasis of life at the hot springs on
the seafloor were therefore completely district from life as seen on land which
is dependent on energy from the sun with green plants using that energy to
manufacture food at the base of the food chain. He noted that in the
ecosystem at the hot springs on the deep seafloor, the energy source is the
earth’s interior chemical energy.
He identified some findings about the microbes. These included the
tree of life, Eucaryota and multi-celled organisms such as Archaea. He
informed participants about the use of some of these microbes in replicating
the genetic material called DNA. He also said that new uses for these
microbes were being discovered all the time. In this regard, he described the
use of an enzyme produced by these thermophiles to enhance the flow of oil
in wells, and new applications of the bioactive compounds for
pharmaceuticals.
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