Huge Plume of Iron Billows for 1,000km Below Sea

A newly discovered ocean plume could be a major source of iron and the researchers who've found it suggest their discovery may change assumptions about how many iron sources are in the world's seas.

In the South Atlantic Ocean, a 1,000 kilometer long plume of iron and other micronutrients was discovered billowing from hydrothermal vents deep below the surface.

"This study and other studies like it are going to force the scientific community to reevaluate how much iron is really being contributed by hydrothermal vents and to increase those estimates, and that has implications for not only iron geochemistry but a number of other disciplines as well," said Mak Saito, associate scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI) and lead author of the study.

Huge Plume of Iron Billows for 1,000km Below Sea : Environment : Nature World News