What is unknown about the geology of hydrothermal vents?
One of the great motivations for building an undersea research facility is that so much is still unknown about the geology of hydrothermal vent fields. Geologists have only been able to perform detailed studies of 1% of the Earth’s vent fields. Such a vast hole in our knowledge means that there are likely many opportunities for research that scientists are not aware of today, which provides an important incentive to have geologists on-site. However, for the first six months of operation, we must consider currently known problems. According to Dr. Stan Hart, the two most important unknowns right now are records of the “timing, duration, and episodicity” of vent activity and knowledge about chemical and energy flux around vent fields.
