Alvin's manipulator reaches toward a black smoker chimney, seen through the sub's viewport, at 17°S on the East Pacific Rise. Hot hydrothermal fluids surge through the chimney at velocities of 1 to 5 meters per second. The "black smoke" consists of an abundance of dark, fine-grained, suspended particles that precipitate when the hot fluid mixes with cold seawater. (Photo by Patrick Hickey, WHOI)
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