The Mid-Atlantic Ridge (Part 1): The Powerhouse of Earth

This blog post will focus on some of the features of a little known geological treasure of Earth; the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. This ridge is a divergent tectonic plate boundary between two pairs of tectonic plates (North and South American, and the Eurasian and African plates), which pull apart form each other. In the case of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, this occurs at a speed of 2.5cm a year. Magma from inside the earth's crust rises up out of this fault, and over millions of years mountains are created. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge runs from off the north east cost of Greenland to the far south of the Atlantic ocean. At 10000 miles (16000 kilometers) long, the Mid-Atlantic Ridge is the longest mountain range on Earth.

The Mid-Atlantic Ridge can be seen as the light-blue spine running down the centre of the Atlantic

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Atlantic_bathymetry.jpg

The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is a very volcanic environment. The sea-floor of this area is littered with hydrothermal vents which raise the sea temperature from near 0 degrees Celsius to up to 450 degrees. These sort of temperatures produce an environment so different from the rest of the underwater world that they harbour their own ecosystems. At these depths, no organism can rely on light in the same way that plant life on land can. Heat resistant bacteria instead sustain themselves with nutrients derived from vent-produced chemicals, by use of a process called chemosynthesis. Some of the most ancient organisms ever discovered have been thermophiles, and the Deep Sea Vent Hypothesis suggests that life itself may have its origins in this peculiar environment. 

 Chemosynthesising bacteria on the floor of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge provide the foundation of a diverse ecosystem.

http://oceana.org/marine-life/marine-science-and-ecosystems/deep-hydrothermal-vent

These 'thermophilic' bacteria can be of use in industrial processes, where changes in temperature would render other biological agents useless. Perhaps the most famous example is the use of Thermus aquaticus (Taq) bacteria, from geothermal vents in Yellowstone National Park. The DNA polymerase from Taq is used at high temperatures in the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) to replicate DNA. This process has a wide array of applications from genetic testing in healthcare to isolating and identifying genetic material in criminal forensics. 

On the topic of marine ecosystems that flourish along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, I'll finish with this photo, taken in the geothermal pools in Iceland (also along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge).

A thermophilic organism

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