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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cold seep | 10/10 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_seep | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T07:34:36.156842+00:00 | kb-cron |
== Environmental impacts == Major threats that cold seep ecosystems and their communities face today are seafloor litter, chemical contaminants, and climate change. Seafloor litter alters the habitat by providing hard substrate where none was available before or by overlying the sediment, thereby inhibiting gas exchange and interfering with organisms on the bottom of the sea. Studies of marine litter in the Mediterranean include surveys of seabed debris on the continental shelf, slope, and bathyal plain. In most studies, plastic items accounted for much of the debris, sometimes as much as 90% or more of the total, owing to their ubiquitous use and poor degradability. Weapons and bombs have also been discarded at sea, and their dumping in open waters contributes to seafloor contamination. Another major threat to the benthic fauna is the presence of lost fishing gear, such as nets and longlines, which contribute to ghost fishing and can damage fragile ecosystems such as cold-water corals. Chemical contaminants such as persistent organic pollutants, toxic metals (e.g., Hg, Cd, Pb, Ni), radioactive compounds, pesticides, herbicides, and pharmaceuticals are also accumulating in deep-sea sediments. Topography (such as canyons) and hydrography (such as cascading events) play a major role in the transportation and accumulation of these chemicals from the coast and shelf to the deep basins, affecting the local fauna. Recent studies have detected the presence of significant levels of dioxins in the commercial shrimp Aristeus antennatus and significant levels of persistent organic pollutants in mesopelagic and bathypelagic cephalopods. Climate-driven processes and climate change will affect the frequency and intensity of cascading, with unknown effects on the benthic fauna. Another potential effect of climate change is related to energy transport from surface waters to the seafloor. Primary production will change in the surface layers according to sun exposure, water temperature, major stratification of water masses, and other effects, and this will affect the food chain down to the deep seafloor, which will be subject to differences in quantity, quality, and timing of organic matter input. As commercial fisheries move into deeper waters, all of these effects will affect the communities and populations of organisms in cold seeps and the deep sea in general.
== See also ==
Chemotroph Gas emission crater Gas hydrate pingo Guaymas Basin
== References == This article incorporates a public domain work of the United States Government from references and CC-BY-2.5 from references and CC-BY-3.0 text from the reference
== Further reading == Bright, M.; Plum, C.; Riavitz, L. A.; Nikolov, N.; Martínez Arbizu, P.; Cordes, E. E.; Gollner, S. (2010). "Epizooic metazoan meiobenthos associated with tubeworm and mussel aggregations from cold seeps of the Northern Gulf of Mexico". Deep-Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography. 57 (21–23): 1982–1989. Bibcode:2010DSRII..57.1982B. doi:10.1016/j.dsr2.2010.05.003. PMC 2995211. PMID 21264038. German, C. R.; Ramirez-Llodra, E.; Baker, M. C.; Tyler, P. A.; the ChEss Scientific Steering Committee (2011). "Deep-Water Chemosynthetic Ecosystem Research during the Census of Marine Life Decade and Beyond: A Proposed Deep-Ocean Road Map". PLoS ONE. 6 (8) e23259. Bibcode:2011PLoSO...623259G. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0023259. PMC 3150416. PMID 21829722. Lloyd, K. G.; Albert, D. B.; Biddle, J. F.; Chanton, J. P.; Pizarro, O.; Teske, A. (2010). "Spatial Structure and Activity of Sedimentary Microbial Communities Underlying a Beggiatoa spp. Mat in a Gulf of Mexico Hydrocarbon Seep". PLoS ONE. 5 (1) e8738. Bibcode:2010PLoSO...5.8738L. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0008738. PMC 2806916. PMID 20090951. Metaxas, A.; Kelly, N. E. (2010). "Do Larval Supply and Recruitment Vary among Chemosynthetic Environments of the Deep Sea?". PLoS ONE. 5 (7) e11646. Bibcode:2010PLoSO...511646M. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0011646. PMC 2906503. PMID 20657831. Rodríguez, E.; Daly, M. (2010). "Phylogenetic Relationships among Deep-Sea and Chemosynthetic Sea Anemones: Actinoscyphiidae and Actinostolidae (Actiniaria: Mesomyaria)". PLoS ONE. 5 (6) e10958. Bibcode:2010PLoSO...510958R. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0010958. PMC 2881040. PMID 20532040. Sibuet, M.; Olu, K. (1998). "Biogeography, biodiversity and fluid dependence of deep-sea cold-seep communities at active and passive margins". Deep-Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography. 45 (1–3): 517–567. Bibcode:1998DSRII..45..517S. doi:10.1016/S0967-0645(97)00074-X. Vinn, O.; Hryniewicz, K; Little, C.T.S.; Nakrem, H.A. (2014). "A Boreal serpulid fauna from Volgian-Ryazanian (latest Jurassic-earliest Cretaceous) shelf sediments and hydrocarbon seeps from Svalbard". Geodiversitas. 36 (4): 527–540. doi:10.5252/g2014n4a2. S2CID 129587761. Retrieved 9 January 2014. Vinn, O.; Kupriyanova, E.K.; Kiel, S. (2013). "Serpulids (Annelida, Polychaeta) at Cretaceous to modern hydrocarbon seeps: Ecological and evolutionary patterns". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 390: 35–41. Bibcode:2013PPP...390...35V. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2012.08.003. Retrieved 9 January 2014.
== External links ==
Paul Yancy's vents and seeps page Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute's seeps page ScienceDaily News: Tubeworms in deep sea discovered to have record long life spans