Diagnosis: Worms
The sample in photograph A is a cross-section through an ancient deep sea tube worm, which is the circular feature in the image.
Multi-purpose So why does the ore collection house samples containing tube worms? Surely worms have nothing to do with ores? Although samples in the Museum’s ore collection are housed because of their significance to economic geology, the geological setting under which ore deposits form can also be of interest to different areas of science. This is certainly the case for Magdalena Georgieva as her PhD project focuses on the evolution of deep sea tube worms over geological time. |
Time to vent
As their name suggests, deep sea tube worms live in the depths of the sea. They inhabit areas where submarine volcanic activity is happening i.e. in areas close to where new oceanic crust is being made.
Through the process of convection, heat from submarine volcanic activity causes cool (2°C) metal deficient seawater to be drawn down through cracks in the ocean crust. This seawater is then transformed into hot (more than 300°C), metal-rich (iron, zinc, copper) hydrothermal fluids, which are vented back out into the sea through hydrothermal vents. It is the conditions at these hydrothermal vents which prove ideal for deep sea tube worms.
This geological setting is not only favorable for deep sea tube worms, it is also the right geological setting for the formation of volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) deposits, which are a source for the metals copper, zinc and lead.
Worms in the collection
This is how deep sea tube worms have wormed their way into the ore collection – they flourish in the exact same environment that VMS deposits can form. As the ore collection houses over 1,500 VMS samples, we’re bound to discover a few tube worms lurking about, such as the one in photograph A from the Yaman-Kasy VMS deposit in Russia.
Wider application
Magdalena‘s PhD is just one example of how the ore collection has a much wider application to science than its associated area of economic geology. Visit window two and window twenty one for two more examples.
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As their name suggests, deep sea tube worms live in the depths of the sea. They inhabit areas where submarine volcanic activity is happening i.e. in areas close to where new oceanic crust is being made.
Through the process of convection, heat from submarine volcanic activity causes cool (2°C) metal deficient seawater to be drawn down through cracks in the ocean crust. This seawater is then transformed into hot (more than 300°C), metal-rich (iron, zinc, copper) hydrothermal fluids, which are vented back out into the sea through hydrothermal vents. It is the conditions at these hydrothermal vents which prove ideal for deep sea tube worms.
This geological setting is not only favorable for deep sea tube worms, it is also the right geological setting for the formation of volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) deposits, which are a source for the metals copper, zinc and lead.
Worms in the collection
This is how deep sea tube worms have wormed their way into the ore collection – they flourish in the exact same environment that VMS deposits can form. As the ore collection houses over 1,500 VMS samples, we’re bound to discover a few tube worms lurking about, such as the one in photograph A from the Yaman-Kasy VMS deposit in Russia.
Wider application
Magdalena‘s PhD is just one example of how the ore collection has a much wider application to science than its associated area of economic geology. Visit window two and window twenty one for two more examples.
< Back to calendar