Scientists have managed to discover new active hydrothermal wells at a depth of 2,550 meters below the surface of the ocean, wells that emit water with a temperature of more than 300 degrees Celsius.

Discovery of new hydrothermal wells at a depth of 2.5 km in the ocean

Five active and new hydrothermal wells have been discovered in the Pacific Ocean at a depth of 2,550 meters on the seabed. These wells are places where superheated water erupts from the sea floor.

A hydrothermal vent is a crack on the surface of the earth, which geologically heats the surrounding waters.

Hydrothermal vents are often found in areas that are volcanically active, such as areas where tectonic plates are moving apart, ocean floors, and hot spots. The most famous hydrothermal system on land is probably Yellowstone National Park in America. Under the sea, hydrothermal vents are called black chimneys and can be found in most deep ocean waters.

The surroundings of hydrothermal wells are biologically more productive and are often home to complex communities that use chemicals dissolved in well fluids. Chemosynthetic activities form the base of the food chain and are used by organisms as diverse as large tube worms, bivalves, barnacles, and shrimp.

It is believed that there are active hydrothermal vents on Jupiter’s moon Europa and also on one of Saturn’s moons Enceladus. It is also believed that there were active hydrothermal vents on Mars in the past.

It should be mentioned that these new hydrothermal wells were discovered by Sentry, which is an autonomous underwater probe, accompanied by Alvin, a manned submarine. These two technologies together accelerated the process of this research and exploration.

“By jointly operating these two advanced deep-sea submarines, we can make significant new discoveries about how the deep ocean floor is structured in some of the most inhospitable environments on Earth,” said Ross Parnell-Turner, a member of the operations team.

The team, led by Jill McDermott of Lehigh University, discovered these wells in a highly volcanic region in the eastern Pacific. These wells spit out fluids with a temperature of more than 300 degrees Celsius.

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Supervolcanic region

These wells are formed due to the continuous separation of tectonic or tectonic plates in the East Pacific Rise, which is located in the wide volcanic mountain chain of the mid-ocean ridge. In this section, two tectonic plates are moving away from each other by approximately 11 cm per year.

Mid-ocean ridges are underwater mountain ranges formed by plate tectonics. The mid-ocean ridges are connected and form a global mid-ocean ridge system.

Thibaut Barriere, one of the senior scientists of this exploration from the University of Brest in France, says: The mid-ocean ridge accounts for more than 75% of all volcanic activity on our planet.

He, who is an expert in thermal measurements and modeling of hydrothermal wells, added: This area is filled with thousands of hot water springs in the deep sea like this, all of which remove 10% of the total internal heat of the earth.

We want to increase our understanding of how hydrothermal vents release heat and chemicals as they pass through the seafloor and affect the global ocean.

The researchers first sent Sentry to use its sensors to create high-resolution maps during the night. Maps of this robot were analyzed to show how humans travel to this location during the day. This process allowed them to collect first-hand data.

“The high-resolution maps that Sentry produces will allow us to identify new hydrothermal fields immediately after the robot returns to the deck,” McDermott said. Sentry gives us great targets for Alvin and the opportunity for multiple discoveries in one dive.

Finding extraterrestrial life

Wells rich in chemicals are known to support life around them, even in the darkest and deepest places on the sea floor. Studying these wells can provide valuable insights into the conditions they may support beyond Earth.

Saturn’s moon Enceladus is believed to have hydrothermal vents beneath its icy surface.

Additionally, understanding hydrothermal vents helps scientists understand the geophysical, chemical, and biological processes that shape our planet.

The study team aims to further investigate this hydrothermal activity and volcanoes along the eastern Pacific mid-ocean ridge in a subsequent mission that will also include the use of Sentry and Alvin.

It is worth mentioning that the Alvin probe has been involved in the discovery of several hydrothermal vents since 1977 and began its work by investigating an ocean ridge in the north of the Galapagos Islands.

A new fuel cell harnesses energy from soil-dwelling microbes to power sensors, harvesting nearly unlimited energy from the soil. In this article we will talk about a device that produces endless energy from soil.

A device that produces endless energy from soil

A team from Northwestern University has demonstrated a new way to generate electricity. They introduced a device the size of a book that sits on top of the soil and collects the force generated by microbes breaking down the soil (as long as there is carbon in the soil).

According to New Atlas, microbial fuel cells, as their name suggests, have been around for over 100 years. They work a bit like a battery, with an anode, cathode, and electrolyte, but instead of taking electricity from a chemical source, they work with bacteria that naturally donate electrons to nearby conductors.

This newly invented fuel cell relies on the ubiquitous natural microbes in the soil to generate energy.

Powered by soil, this device is a viable alternative to batteries in underground sensors used for precision agriculture.

A microbial fuel cell (MFC) or biological fuel cell is a biochemical system that produces electric current by mimicking the activity of bacteria that occurs in nature. A microbial fuel cell is a type of biochemical fuel cell system that generates electric current by diverting electrons produced from the microbial oxidation of reduced compounds (also known as fuel or electron donors) on the anode to oxidizing compounds (known as oxidizing agents or also known as electron acceptor) on the cathode through an external electrical circuit.

Fuel cells can be divided into two general categories “mediated and non-mediated”. The first fuel cells, introduced in the early 20th century, used a mediator, a chemical substance that transfers electrons from the bacteria in the cell to the anode. Non-intermediate fuel cells emerged in the 1970s. In this type of fuel cell, bacteria usually have electrochemically active proteins such as cytochromes on their outer membrane that can transfer electrons directly to the anode.

Read More: What if all the fish in the ocean disappeared?

Northwestern University researchers note the durability of their powerful fuel cell and have shown its ability to withstand various environmental conditions, including dry soil and flood-prone areas.

The issue so far has been to supply them with water and oxygen while they are buried in the soil. Although these devices have existed as a concept for more than a century, their uncertain performance and low power output have hampered efforts to put them into practice, especially in low-power conditions, says Northwestern University graduate student Bill Yen, who led the project. The humidity had stopped.

So the team set out to create several new designs aimed at providing cells with continuous access to oxygen and water and succeeded with a cartridge-shaped design that sits vertically on a horizontal disk.

A disk-shaped carbon-felt anode sits horizontally at the bottom of the device and goes deep into the soil, where it can capture electrons as microbes break down the soil.

Meanwhile, the conductive metal cathode is placed vertically above the anode. So the lower part goes deep enough to access the deep soil moisture, while the upper part is flush with the ground and a fresh air gap runs the entire length of the electrode, and a protective cap on top prevents soil from falling and It becomes waste and cuts off the cathode’s access to oxygen. Part of the cathode is also covered with a water-insulating material so that when water is present, a hydrophobic part of the cathode is still in contact with oxygen for the fuel cell to work.

The researchers used a waterproof material on the surface of the cathode, which allows it to work even during flooding and ensures gradual drying after immersion in water.

“These microbes are everywhere,” says George Wells, lead author of the study. They live in the soil everywhere now and we can use very simple engineered systems to get electricity from them. We’re not going to power entire cities with this energy, but we can capture very small amounts of energy to fuel essential, low-consumption applications.

Also, chemicals left over from batteries can potentially seep into the soil. This new technology is an environmentally friendly alternative that reduces environmental concerns associated with hazardous battery components and is also non-combustible.
The design performed consistently well in tests at varying levels of soil moisture, from completely waterlogged to relatively dry, and produced, on average, about 68 times more energy than its sensors needed to operate. It was also strong enough to survive extreme changes in soil moisture.

As with other sources of long-term electricity generation, such as diamond beta-voltaic batteries made from nuclear waste, the amount of electricity produced here is not enough to start a car or power a smartphone, but rather to power small sensors that can be used for long periods. work for a long time without needing to replace the battery regularly.

In addition, the researchers attached the soil sensor to a small antenna to enable wireless communication. This allowed the fuel cell to transmit data to a nearby station by reflecting existing radio frequency signals.

It is noteworthy that this soil fuel cell has a 120% better performance than similar technology.
Bill Yen says: “If we imagine a future with trillions of devices, we can’t make them all out of lithium, heavy metals, and toxins that are dangerous to the environment.” We need to find alternatives that can provide small amounts of energy to power a decentralized network of devices. In our search for a solution, we turned to soil microbial fuel cells, which use special microbes to break down soil and use that small amount of energy. As long as there is organic carbon in the soil for microbes to break down, our fuel cells can potentially survive.

Therefore, sensors like these can be very useful for farmers looking to monitor various soil elements including moisture, nutrients, pollutants, etc., and to use a technology-based precision agriculture approach. So if you put several of these devices around your farm, they can generate data for you for years, maybe even decades.

It should be mentioned that according to the research team, all the components of this device can be purchased from hardware stores. Therefore, there is no problem in the supply chain or materials for the widespread commercialization of this product.

This research was published in the ACM Journal on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable, and Ubiquitous Technologies.​