Plate Tectonics and MusselsThis picture was taken off the coast of the islands of Trinidad and Tobag
Plate Tectonics and MusselsThis picture was taken off the coast of the islands of Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean Sea. This is a huge bloom of mussels sitting on the bottom of the ocean. The research vessel Nautilus located this site while studying the ocean floor earlier this year. The system itself is a remarkable example of a connected system.Old oceanic crust is subducting beneath the Eastern Caribbean, causing the formation of the volcanic islands that dot the boundary between the Sea and the Atlantic. When oceanic crust is subducted, it bends downward, cracking and breaking the rigid plate. These cracks allow water from the ocean to penetrate and circulate, where they react with the rocks. The reaction between ocean waters and the type of rocks that make up the mantle produces a couple things: the mineral serpentine and the gas methane as a byproduct.The methane gas leaks upwards from the reaction site, carried by hydrothermal fluids until it reaches the open ocean. In the open ocean, methane is a spectacular energy source for microbes; the microbes eat the methane and use it to grow.A big microbial bloom would cloud these waters, but they’re utterly clear thanks to the mussels. These mussels are filter-feeders; they take ocean water in and digest tiny organisms that are in the water as their energy source.This is a giant bloom of mussels in the ocean fed by a chemical reaction enabled by plate tectonics. A wonderfully interconnected system.-JBBImage credit: Nautilus Livehttps://www.facebook.com/nautiluslivehttp://www.nautiluslive.org/ -- source link
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