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May 31, 2002 Hello Mrs. Humphris. I am Sung Jeon who is one of Miss Sheild’s seventh grade students in Lexington Massachusetts. I know you are very busy but I have few geology and general questions for you. Could you please response my questions, because I am really curious about your team. If some sentences don’t make any sense please understand because I have been America only 1 year. My general questions are do you think ocean scientist job is boring or interesting. How often can you gather together with your family. These are my questions. I hope you can have time to response my questions. Hello Sung Jeon- Dr. Humphris is diving in Alvin today so I thought I would answer your questions. We believe there are many, many hydrothermal vents along the global mid-ocean ridge axis. From our experience, it seems like there may be venting at least every 10 miles or so along the ridge axis at intermediate and fast spreading ridges. When you think that the global ridge system is over 40,000 miles you can see that there may be tens of thousands of vents. Oceanography and studying the mid-ocean ridge system and hydrothermal venting is VERY interesting. Understanding how the Earth works is a big puzzle and there is still much that we do not understand. Hope you like following Dive and Discover and that you have had a chance to look at the InfoMods under ‘Deeper Discovery’. There is a lot of good information there for you. Thanks for your questions and keep Diving and Discovering with us. Dear Dive Discover Scientists, I am a seventh grade student from Clarke Middle School and we have been following your current dive. I was hoping you could answer these questions. Can the minerals found at the mid-ocean ridge be found about ground? Also, if do you find the rose garden as beautiful as a rose garden on land? Thank you! Sincerely, Hi Aisha- Thanks for following our Dive and Discover Expedition #6 here in the Galápagos Rift. The minerals found at hydrothermal vents can also be found on land. One of the very interesting things about discovery of high-temperature hydrothermal vents and their mineralogy in 1979, when they were first found on the East Pacific Rise, is that it gave scientists a modern example of how you form ore deposits of minerals like nickel and copper. In some cases, ore deposits that are mined on land for these minerals are thought to have been formed at ancient mid-ocean ridges. The tubeworms at our newly discovered vent site—Rosebud—are beautiful, especially to the biologists on board. Scientifically this young vent site and its animals will be very interesting for our vent biological research. Thanks for Diving and Discovering with us. How does it feel to be down in the Alvin? What are you doing for the 90 minutes you are waiting to reach the bottom? What do tube worms feel like? My last question is: why are the crabs white? Nathan Gagne Hello Nathan: Thanks very much for your questions—it is good to hear from someone who is living so far away from the ocean! You have asked some good questions. When you first get into Alvin, it is usually hot, and very cramped because there are three of you in a sphere 6 feet in diameter. However, as you go down, it gets colder and everyone has to put on extra sweaters and socks. On the way down, we check our tape recorders, cameras, and other equipment. Sometimes, we play music and some people take a nap! The tubes of tubeworms are made of a material a bit like your fingernail, although a bit softer, so you can imagine what that might feel like. The crabs are white because it is pitch black at the bottom of the ocean, so being a different color does not help at all. With no light, even white crabs cannot be seen. I hope you will continue to follow the last few days of the cruise!
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