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==Detailed Environmental Description==
==Detailed Environmental Description==
White smokers are deep-sea hydrothermal vents located off-axis from mid-ocean ridges. They are high-pH (around 9-9.8) and are typically 260-300˚C, though can be as cool as 45-75˚C.(Arndt, Kelley) Hydrothermal vents form from superheated seawater that circulates in the ocean's crust, dissolving toxic minerals and gases. As pressure builds, the water is released through mineralized chimneys into contrastingly freezing ocean water, creating hot plumes. White smokers should not be confused with their more common relatives, black smokers, which are typically located directly along mid-ocean ridges and whose plumes are much hotter (around 360˚C). Black smokers are usually larger and gets their black color from iron monosulfide; white smokers emit lighter-hued chemicals such as barium, calcium and silicon. Furthermore, white smokers are "characterized by an axial zone of high porosity that favors outward percolation of hot fluids from all surfaces" (Kormas, Koski), whereas black smokers release hot water from only the top chimney opening.  
White smokers are deep-sea hydrothermal vents located off-axis from mid-ocean ridges. They are high-pH (around 9-9.8) and are typically 260-300˚C, though can be as cool as 45-75˚C.<ref name=Arndt>[https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-3-642-11274-4_1691 Arndt N. (2011) White Smoker. In: Gargaud M. et al. (eds) Encyclopedia of Astrobiology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg]</ref><ref name=Kelley>[https://www.nature.com/articles/35084000 Kelley, D.S., Karson, J.A., Blackman, D.K., Fruh-Green, G.L., Butterfield, D.A., Lilley, M.D., Olson, E.J., Schrenk, M.O., Roe, K.K., Lebon, G.T., Rivizzigno, P., and the, A.T.S.P., 2001, An off-axis hydrothermal vent field near the Mid-Atlantic Ridge at 30[deg] N: Nature, 412, 145-149.]</ref> Hydrothermal vents form from superheated seawater that circulates in the ocean's crust, dissolving toxic minerals and gases. As pressure builds, the water is released through mineralized chimneys into contrastingly freezing ocean water, creating hot plumes. White smokers should not be confused with their more common relatives, black smokers, which are typically located directly along mid-ocean ridges and whose plumes are much hotter (around 360˚C). Black smokers are usually larger and gets their black color from iron monosulfide; white smokers emit lighter-hued chemicals such as barium, calcium and silicon. Furthermore, white smokers are "characterized by an axial zone of high porosity that favors outward percolation of hot fluids from all surfaces" (Kormas, Koski), whereas black smokers release hot water from only the top chimney opening.  





Revision as of 18:13, 3 June 2020

Overview

Photo of white smoker located at the Champagne vent, Northwest Eifuku volcano, Marianas Trench Marine National Monument


By Caroline Webster

Detailed Environmental Description

White smokers are deep-sea hydrothermal vents located off-axis from mid-ocean ridges. They are high-pH (around 9-9.8) and are typically 260-300˚C, though can be as cool as 45-75˚C.[1][2] Hydrothermal vents form from superheated seawater that circulates in the ocean's crust, dissolving toxic minerals and gases. As pressure builds, the water is released through mineralized chimneys into contrastingly freezing ocean water, creating hot plumes. White smokers should not be confused with their more common relatives, black smokers, which are typically located directly along mid-ocean ridges and whose plumes are much hotter (around 360˚C). Black smokers are usually larger and gets their black color from iron monosulfide; white smokers emit lighter-hued chemicals such as barium, calcium and silicon. Furthermore, white smokers are "characterized by an axial zone of high porosity that favors outward percolation of hot fluids from all surfaces" (Kormas, Koski), whereas black smokers release hot water from only the top chimney opening.


Overview of Microbial Ecology as it is known

Hydrothermal vents create unique conditions for microbial communities. These communities are dominated by hyperthermophilic anaerobic archaea and bacteria (Takai). Bacteria living in these plumes rely on cemosynthesis, conversitng minerals into organic material in the absense of sunlight. Due to the stark constrast between vent plumes and surrounding seawater, plumes are characterized by steep gradients. According to a study conducted Kormas et. al of a white smoker from the East Pacific Rise (9°N), the inner chimney walls, which can reach temperatures over 250˚C, are home to thermophilic and hyperthermophilic prokaryotes such as methanogens, anaerobic hydrogen oxidizers, NO3/Fe/S°/SO4 reducers and fermentative heterotrophs (Kormas, McCollom). Outer chimney walls come in contact with cool, oxygenated sea water and host a denser mesophilic community, "consisting mostly of H2S‐, Fe‐ and Mn‐oxidizers, oxygen‐respiring hydrogen oxidizers, and aerobic methanotrophs"(Kormas, Reysenbach). 16S rRNA gene clone libraries from the Kormas study were dominated by epsilon-Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Thermales and Aquificales bacterial phlya along with hyperthermophilic Thermococcales, Archaeoglobales, Desulfurococcales and Thermoproteales archaeal orders. The superheated pyrrhotite-rich chimney center was populated only with epsilon-Proteobacteria "related to meophilic isolates" (Kormas)

Key Microbial Players

Phylogenetic tree of bacterial phyla Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Thermales and Aquificales found in white smoker (Kormas)
Phylogenetic tree of archaeal phyla present in white smoker (Kormas)

Information on key microbial players is derived from Kormas et. al 16S rRNA gene cloning and sequencing. The first key microbial player to mention is the Epsilon-Proteobacteria. Strains of Epsilon-Proteobacteria are mainly found in the chimney top, porous central orifice walls at the chimney top, and in the outer part of the middle chimney layer (Kormas). Clones are related to Rimicaris exoculata (polz) and Alvinella pompejana (Cary) and were derived from symbionts of Alvinellid polychaetes (Kormas, Cary). Cultured strains are described as mesophilic or moderate thermophlic chemoautotrophs (Kormas) and "all strains use nitrate or oxygen as electron acceptors, and hydrogen, thiosulfate and elemental sulfur as electron donors" (Inagaki and Takai).
Next, Kormas et. al identified Thermales and Aquificales are important hyperthermophilic bacteria players. They are found "located at the top chimney surface, the porous central orifice walls at the top of the chimney and the outer part of the middle layer" (Kormas). Strains are closely realted to Oceanithermus profundus, a thermophilic microaerophilic and facultatively chemolithotrophic bacterium (Kormas, Miroshnickenko). The closest cultured relative to Aquificales is Persephonella, "thermophilic, nitrate‐ and oxygen‐respiring, sulfur‐, thiosulfate‐ and hydrogen‐oxidizing chemolithoautotrophic bacteria" with optimal growth at 70-73˚C (Kormas, Götz).
Bacteriodetes are another important player, found on the orifice walls, at the chimney base and outer middle layer (Kormas). Cultured members of the bacteriodetes phylum are non-thermophilic heterotrophs and very common in marine environments.
Key archaeal clones found in white smokers are mostly related to sulfur-reducing heterotrophs, including Thermococcus , Pyrococcus and Palaeococcus,  within the Thermococcales and Thermoproteales phylum, the sulfate- and iron-reducing Archaeoglobales Archaeoglobus, Geoglobus and Ferroglobus , methanogenic Methanococcales Methanocaldococcus. 
An extensive phylogenetic tree of bacterial and archaeal members found in the white smoker studied by Kormas et. al is shown on the right.




Origins of Life

As early as the 1970s, hydrothermal vents have offered insight into the origins of life on Earth. It is widely believed that life on Earth evolved over 3500 Ma in after the 'chemical evolution'. During this evolution, chemical reactions among the ocean, lithosphere and atmosphere created the necessary conditions for complex molecules to emerge (Morowitz). While it is still unclear how organic compounds evolved, hydrothermal vents are a plausible geological context for where it could have happened. These vents provide the necessary geothermal gradients to facilitate such reactions (Morowitz) .

Conclusion

References



Authored for Earth 373 Microbial Ecology, taught by Magdalena Osburn, 2020, NU Earth Page.