Spectaculair.By Will Dunham
(Reuters) -Scientists diving to astounding depths in two oceanic trenches in the northwest Pacific have discovered thriving communities of marine creatures that get their sustenance not by eating organic matter like most animals but by turning chemicals into energy.
They found these chemosynthesis-based animal communities - dominated by tube worms and clams - during a series of dives aboard a crewed submersible to the bottom of the Kuril-Kamchatka and Aleutian trenches. These creatures are nourished by fluids rich in hydrogen sulfide and methane seeping from the seafloor in this dark and frigid realm beyond the reach of sunlight.
These ecosystems were discovered at depths greater than the height of Mount Everest, Earth's tallest peak. The deepest one was 9,533 meters (31,276 feet) below the ocean surface in the Kuril-Kamchatka Trench. This was almost 25% deeper than such animals had previously been documented anywhere. (..)
The newly observed ecosystems were dominated by two types of chemical-eating animals (..)
Goh, ik heb zo'n dorst, geef mij de Thinner eens aan..
En dat proberen sommige mensen zo snel mogelijk kapot te maken, b.v. met deepsea mining.