Plume
Inspired by Katie Squires' research on hydrothermal vent fluids and their impact on ocean chemistry, this artwork comprises a composite of almost 600 images captured in the local environment.
Discovered in 1977, hydrothermal vents are essentially underwater hot springs that form at tectonic boundaries over 8,000 feet below the ocean’s surface. When vent fluids emerge from the seafloor, they deliver high concentrations of metals (e.g. iron and manganese) to the deep ocean. Eventually, these metals settle from the water column and are deposited on the seafloor. Squires, a graduate student at MIT and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, uses chemical patterns recorded in marine sediments to study where and how far hydrothermally sourced metals travel across the Pacific Ocean, and how this has varied over millions of years. Understanding how hydrothermal fluxes have changed through time is important because these fluids are a source of metals that marine organisms need to survive. Furthermore, many of these metals are used in renewable energy sources (e.g. electric vehicle batteries), and there is international interest in mining seafloor sediments to collect these metals for such purposes. It is important that we understand when, where, how, and at what rates these metals are deposited on the seafloor before undertaking actions that may impact hydrothermal vents, their deposits, and the organisms that depend on them.
Hydrothermal vents are complex geologic features and need specialist equipment to explore. Like all things oceanic, where it can take 10,000 years for the ocean floor to grow 1mm, they play a critical if not fully understood role in the ocean's ecosystem, with small changes leading to big and potentially irreversible consequences.
2024