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General Background Information

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Background information on deep-sea hydrothermal vents
Hydrothermal vents on ChEss website
Known sites of hydrothermal venting along mid-ocean ridges

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Known sites of hydrothermal venting along mid-ocean ridges, in back-arc basins, rifted arcs, and at submerged island-arc volcanoes (red), and areas of activity as indicated by mid-water chemical anomalies (yellow). (Fig. 1 from Tivey, Oceanogr. magazine, Vol. 20, No. 1, 2007)


Information on the distribution, geology, and biology of deep-sea hydrothermal vents from our workshop sponsor, the ChEss (Chemosynthetic Ecosystems) program of the Census of Marine Life.
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Hydrothermal vents on Dive and Discover website
The Dive and Discover website includes basic information about hydrothermal vents, videos, podcasts, and interactive graphics.
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Generation of seafloor hydrothermal vent fluids and associated mineral deposits
Article in Oceanography magazine, Vol. 20, No. 1, March 2007, by Margaret K. Tivey.
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Hydrothermal vent ecosystems
Article in Oceanography magazine, Vol. 20, No. 1, 2007, by C. Fisher, K. Takai, and N. Le Bris.
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Biogeography of life at hydrothermal vents
Article titled "The Evolutionary Puzzle of Seafloor Life," from Oceanus magazine, Mar. 2004, by Tim Shank.
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Hydrothermal vents on Extreme 2008 cruise website
Includes interactive graphics to explain how a hydrothermal vent works.
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Hydrothermal vents on Ridge 2000 SEAS website
Students Experiments At Sea (SEAS) is a free web-based science education program for middle-and high-school students interested in learning about the deep sea.
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Background information on Seafloor Massive Sulfide (SMS) deposits
environment in which massive sulfide deposits

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Schematic diagram to illustrate the environment in which massive sulfide deposits are formed within the ocean crust and at the sea-bed. (Courtesy M. Baker, NOC, UK - Fig. 1a in Baker and German, Ocean Challenge magazine, 2008)

Brochure describing polymetallic sulphides
Brochure prepared by the International Seabed Authority, March 2008
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Wikipedia description of SMS
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Wikipedia description of volcanogenic massive sulfide ore deposits
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Basic description of SMS from Neptune Minerals website
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Overview on potential deep-sea mining of SMS
This is a report from a student Group Project at UCSB Bren School of Environmental Science and Management.
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Background information on deep-sea mining, in general
Deep sea mining, including political and legal aspects
Lecture in Geological Oceanography by Jack Morelock (Univ. Puerto Rico)

Lessons learned from deep-sea mining
Glasby, G.P. (2000) Lessons learned from deep-sea mining. Science 289: 551-553. Policy Forum article.

Deep-sea mining and exploration
TechnoMine article, 6 Nov. 2006

Precautionary mangagement of deep sea mining
Report by Halfar and Fujita, related to their article published in Science in 2007



Last updated: January 14, 2009
 


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