Giving Hope for Life on Other Worlds With The Help of this City at the Bottom of the Ocean

What does the ocean floor have to do with space?

Transcript

00:00this video was captured from the bottom of the ocean just west of the mid-atlantic ridge and

00:08this is what experts colloquially refer to as the lost city an area featuring giant towers of

00:13carbonate standing hundreds of feet tall the area was first discovered more than two decades ago

00:182300 feet underwater the lost city hydrothermal field was formed more than 120 000 years ago

00:25and scientists say it's absolutely unique at least as far as we know the pylons of mineral-rich rock

00:30were formed by gaseous vents on the ocean floor forcing hydrogen methane and other gas upwards

00:35resulting in these towering behemoths some stretching 200 feet tall and while the lost city is definitely

00:41of scientific interest to marine biologists it's also an extremely interesting research

00:45opportunity for planetologists william brazelton a microbiologist previously told the smithsonian

00:51in an interview quote this is an example of a type of ecosystem that could be active on enceladus

00:56or europa right the second and maybe even mars in the past those moons are believed to have liquid

01:01oceans and likely rocky molten cores meaning the conditions found in the lost city where warm

01:06vents have led to creatures and other life forms finding a home there could also be found out in the

01:11solar system