Vent Field

A vent field is a cluster of hydrothermal vents grouped over a single subseafloor heat and fluid source, typically along a mid-ocean ridge or back-arc spreading center. A field can span tens to hundreds of meters and mix black smokers, lower-temperature white smokers, and diffuse warm seepage, all fed by seawater that circulates through hot young crust, leaches metals, and vents as sulfide-rich fluid. Fields host chemosynthetic ecosystems and build seafloor massive-sulfide deposits of copper, zinc, and gold, a target of deep-sea mining interest. The TAG field on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the East Pacific Rise sites are well-studied examples.