Piece of the Deep

WHOI marine chemist Frieder Klein identifies a piece of a hydrothermal vent chimney collected from the Piccard vent field on the Mid-Cayman Rise by the remotely operated vehicle Jason during the Oases 2012 cruise. MIT/WHOI Joint Program student Guy Evans will study its trace metal chemistry to learn more about the geochemical micro-environments of the vents, which are home to microbes that form the base of the food web at chemosynthetic deep-sea ecosystems. The Piccard vent field was one of two discovered by another WHOI-led cruise in 2010. At over 5,000 meters depth, it is the deepest hydrothermal vent system yet discovered. (Photo by Jill McDermott, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)