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Black Smoker |
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| Black smokers are plumes of very hot water that gush from vents in newly formed, hot crust on the ocean floor. The water looks like thick black smoke because it contains minerals that have dissolved out of the dark basalt crust of the ocean floor. The smoky appearance of the water is caused by precipitation of the minerals in the plume as it gushes out of the vent. | ||||||
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| Library of Congress/Corbis | ||||||
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| Appears in these articles: | ||||||
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| Mid-Ocean Ridge; Hydrothermal Vent | ||||||
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