The Ecology of Deep-Sea Hydrothermal Vents

Description:

Teeming with weird and wonderful life, giant clams and mussels, tubeworms, 'eyeless' shrimp, and bacteria that survive on sulphur--deep-sea hot-water springs are found along rifts where sea-floor spreading occurs. The theory of plate tectonics predicted the existence of these hydrothermal vents, but they were discovered only in 1977. Since then the sites have attracted teams of scientists seeking to understand how life can thrive in what would seem to be intolerable or extreme conditions of temperature and fluid chemistry. Some suspect that these vents even hold the key to understanding the very origins of life.

Condition

Vg. Some wrinkling to lamination on front cover.