Hydrothermal vent
A hydrothermal vent is a seafloor hot spring where seawater circulates through the oceanic crust, becomes heated and chemically altered by underlying magma, and reemerges carrying dissolved minerals that precipitate to form chimney-like structures. These sites, common along mid-ocean ridges and back-arc basins, host dense deep-sea ecosystems based on chemosynthesis rather than sunlight, and are central to studies of geochemistry, mineral deposition, and the origins of life.
