Deep-sea extreme environments

courtesy of D. Kelley, U. Washington

Scientists involved with flexe study deep-sea systems, such as mid-ocean ridges and cold seeps.

Integrated earth systems

Many patterns and processes in these systems can only be understood through interdisciplinary investigations.

Geologic processes (e.g. mantle convection, plate tectonic movement, volcanic eruptions, salt tectonics) drive hydrologic processes (e.g. seawater circulation through crustal rocks, dissolution of minerals, formation of hydrothermal vent fluids, methane seepage)
Together, these provide rich energy sources to complex deep-sea ecosystems: species-rich biological communities are powered not by photosynthetic plants, but by chemosynthetic bacteria and archaea that derive energy using chemicals leached from crustal rocks
Living organisms, from microscopic bacteria to 2m-long tubeworms, affect their physiochemical environment as well as each other.

Conditions in these systems would quickly kill many terrestrial organisms:

The seafloor is so deep that no sunlight penetrates, and pressure is immense
Toxic chemicals (e.g. sulfides) are often present in high concentrations
There can be steep spatial gradients and rapid temporal fluctuations in temperature, pH and salinity (e.g. hydrothermal vents jet super-hot acidic fluid into near-freezing seawater)