Ocean Dark Floor

Scientists are flocking to florida s gulf coast for a glimpse of a mysterious 425 feet deep blue hole on the ocean floor.

Ocean dark floor. The deepest zone of the ocean the hadalpelagic zone extends from 19 700 feet 6 000 meters to the very bottom at 36 070 feet 10 994 meters. Interlayered basaltic dark and felsic light ash layers in the east wall of west rota caldera. Hr columnar jointing in a pumice boulder on the top of west rota volcano. But despite their name these plains are not uniformly flat.

The water temperature is constantly near freezing and only a few creatures can be found at these crushing depths. In 1977 scientists used submersible vehicles to explore the seabed and discovered vents gushing dark plumes of superhot mineral rich water. This layer is also called the midnight or the dark zone. Hr a contact point between the lower basaltic and upper felsic ash units in the wall of the west rota caldera.

Sunlight does not penetrate to the sea floor making these deep dark ecosystems less productive than those along the continental shelf. Three quarters of the area of the deep ocean floor lies in this zone. These black smokers are caused by volcanic activity at mid ocean ridges. Hr sulfur and ash totally obscure the outcrop from our view.

Water entering cracks in the crust is heated by magma and mixed with mineral sulphides then belched forth in dark clouds. Bathypelagic zone midnight zone the bathypelagic layer is found between 3 281 feet and 12 124 feet just above the abyss.