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Hydrothermal Vent Challenge 2004 Ring of Fire Expedition Hydrothermal Vent Challenge FOCUS TEACHING TIME Chemistry of hydrothermal vents One 45-minute class period, plus time for Internet research GRADE LEVEL 9-12 (Chemistry) SEATING ARRANGEMENT Classroom style if students are working individually, FOCUS QUESTION or groups of two to four students What are common features of hydrothermal vent fluids, and how can these features be used to MAXIMUM NUMBER OF STUDENTS locate undiscovered hydrothermal vents? 30 LEARNING OBJECTIVES KEY WORDS Students will be able to define hydrothermal vents, Ring of Fire and explain the overall processes that lead to their Asthenosphere formation. Lithosphere Magma Students will be able to explain the origin of min- Fault eral-rich fluids associated with hydrothermal vents. Transform boundary Convergent boundary Students will be able to explain how “black smok- Divergent boundary ers” and “white smokers” are formed. Subduction Tectonic plate Students will be able to hypothesize how proper- Hydrothermal vent ties of hydrothermal fluids might be used to locate Chimney undiscovered hydrothermal vents. Black smoker White smoker MATERIALS Hydrothermal plume Copies of “Hydrothermal Vent Challenge,” one CTD copy per student or student group Tow-yo Phase separation AUDIO/VISUAL MATERIALS None BACKGROUND INFORMATION The Ring of Fire is an arc of active volcanoes and earthquake sites that partially encircles the Pacific Ocean Basin. The location of the Ring of Fire coin- 1 2004 Ring of Fire Expedition – Grades 9-12 (Chemistry) 2004 Ring of Fire Expedition – Grades 9-12 (Chemistry) Focus: Chemistry of hydrothermal vents oceanexplorer.noaa.gov oceanexplorer.noaa.gov Focus: Chemistry of hydrothermal vents cides with the location of oceanic trenches and vol- ary. These island arcs are always landward of the canic island arcs that result from the motion of the neighboring trenches. large plates (tectonic plates) that make up the outer shell of the Earth (the lithosphere). These plates The 2004 Ring of Fire Expedition continues explo- consist of a crust about 5 km thick, and the upper ration of the convergent plate boundary that forms 60 - 75 km of the Earth’s mantle. The plates that the Mariana Arc, part of the Ring of Fire that lies make up the lithosphere move on a hot flowing to the north of Guam in the western Pacific. Here, mantle layer called the asthenosphere, which is the fast-moving Pacific Plate converges against the several hundred kilometers thick. Heat within the slower-moving Philippine Plate. The Pacific Plate is asthenosphere creates convection currents (similar subducted beneath the Philippine Plate, creating the to the currents that can be seen if food coloring is Mariana Trench (which includes the Challenger added to a heated container of water). These con- Deep, the deepest known area of the Earth’s vection currents cause the tectonic plates to move oceans). The Mariana Islands are the result of vol- several centimeters per year relative to each other. canoes caused by this subduction, which frequently causes earthquakes as well. The movement of the Where tectonic plates slide horizontally past each Pacific Ocean tectonic plate has been likened to a other, the boundary between the plates is known huge conveyor belt on which new crust is formed at as a transform plate boundary. As the plates rub the oceanic spreading ridges off the western coasts against each other, huge stresses are set up that of North and South America, and older crust is can cause portions of the rock to break, resulting recycled to the lower mantle at the convergent in earthquakes. Places where these breaks occur plate boundaries along the underwater volcanoes are called faults. A well-known example of a trans- and island arcs of the western Pacific. While many form plate boundary is the San Andreas Fault in volcanoes in the Mariana Arc have been mapped California. and sampled in recent years, the Ring of Fire Expeditions are the first explorations focused spe- Where tectonic plates are moving apart, they form cifically on submarine hydrothermal systems of the a divergent plate boundary. At divergent plate Arc. boundaries, magma (molten rock) rises from deep within the Earth and erupts to form new crust on Underwater volcanism at spreading ridges and the lithosphere. Most divergent plate boundaries convergent plate boundaries produces hot springs are underwater (Iceland is an exception), and form known as hydrothermal vents. Scientists first discov- submarine mountain ranges called oceanic spread- ered hydrothermal vents in 1977 while exploring ing ridges. an oceanic spreading ridge near the Galapagos Islands in the submersible Alvin. In addition, the A convergent plate boundary is formed when tec- scientists also found that the hydrothermal vents tonic plates collide more or less head-on. Usually were surrounded by large numbers of animals that one of the converging plates moves beneath the had never been seen before. These biological com- other (a process called subduction). Deep trenches munities depend upon specific chemical processes are often formed where tectonic plates are being that result from the interaction of seawater and hot subducted, and earthquakes are common. As the magma associated with underwater volcanoes. sinking plate moves deeper into the mantle, fluids are released from the rock causing the overlying In this lesson, students will research some of these mantle to partially melt. The new magma rises and processes, their relationship to hydrothermal vent may erupt violently to form volcanoes, often form- communities, and how these processes provide a ing arcs of islands along the convergent bound- means for locating undiscovered hydrothermal vents. 2 3 2004 Ring of Fire Expedition – Grades 9-12 (Chemistry) 2004 Ring of Fire Expedition – Grades 9-12 (Chemistry) Focus: Chemistry of hydrothermal vents oceanexplorer.noaa.gov oceanexplorer.noaa.gov Focus: Chemistry of hydrothermal vents Refer to the 2002 Ring of Fire Expedition for lesson stances increases with increasing temperature. plans developed for Grades 9-12 (http://oceanexplorer e.noaa.gov). • Hot seawater in hydrothermal vents does not boil because of the extreme pressure at the depths LEARNING PROCEDURE where the vents are formed. 1. Review the concepts of plate tectonics, being sure that students understand the processes that take • Chimneys are minerals deposited from hydrother- place at convergent and divergent boundaries, mal vent fluids when the fluids are cooled by sur- and why these boundaries are often the site of rounding seawater, thus lowering the solubility of volcanic activity. Tell students that their assign- many of the dissolved materials. ment is to research some of the chemical interac- tions that take place between seawater and the • “Black smokers” are chimneys formed from depos- volcanic magma. its of iron sulfide, which is black. 2. Distribute copies of “Hydrothermal Vent • “White smokers” are chimneys formed from Challenge” to each student or student group. You deposits of barium, calcium, and silicon, which may want to direct students to the following web are white. sites: http://www.ocean.udel.edu/deepsea/ • Hydrothermal plumes are formed by the chemi- http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/vents/chemocean.html cally-altered seawater that emerges from hydro- http://www.pbs.org/wnet/savageearth/hellscrust/html/ thermal vents. Because the heat and chemical sidebar2.html composition of the plumes is distinctly different http://www.geneseo.edu/~jc99/whatarethey.html from the surrounding seawater, these properties http://www.accessexcellence.com/BF/bf01/arp/ can be measured and indicate the presence of hydrothermal vents. Some of these parameters 3. Lead a discussion of students’ research results. (especially helium) can be detected as far as tens The following points should emerge from this to hundreds of kilometers away from the vents discussion: that produced them. • Hydrothermal vents are the result of sea water • A CTD is an instrument package that measures percolating down through fissures in the ocean conductivity, temperature, and depth. The pack- crust in the vicinity of spreading centers or sub- age usually includes additional instruments duction zones. The cold seawater is heated by to measure pH, transmissivity (a measure of hot magma, and re-emerges to form the vents. interference with light transmission through sea water, which can indicate the presence of sus- • As the seawater is heated, some chemicals (such pended particles), and concentrations of certain as magnesium and sulfate ions) are removed, chemicals (such as iron and sulfur that are often while many others (such as sulfur, copper, zinc, enriched in vent plumes). gold, iron, and helium) are transferred to the water from the hot crust material. • To search for hydrothermal plumes, scientists tow a CTD behind a research vessel, and gradually • Seawater in hydrothermal vents may reach tem- raise and lower the instrument package as the peratures of over 340°C (700°F). The extremely ship moves along. The motion of the instrument high temperatures contribute to the solution of package is thus similar to a yo-yo, and this kind- these materials, since the solubility of many sub- of exploration is called a “tow-yo” operation. 2 3 2004 Ring of Fire Expedition – Grades 9-12 (Chemistry) 2004 Ring of Fire Expedition – Grades 9-12 (Chemistry) Focus: Chemistry of hydrothermal vents oceanexplorer.noaa.gov oceanexplorer.noaa.gov Focus: Chemistry of hydrothermal vents • Phase Separation is the separation
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