Mega plumes

Some scientists believe that mega plumes form where there is very warm water. Although the scientists don’t know exactly what causes the mega plumes to form they have several ideas on how they form and why they exist. Mega plumes are found in oceans all over the world. Some mega plumes are found on plate boundaries or have hydrothermal vents.
A mega plume is an area in the ocean where warm water is found. It is also where sea water circulates in ocean ridge axes. Mega plumes are believed to be large buoyant heated water in the oceanic water columns. They may be located 1,000 meters above the seafloor, and be generated by mid ocean ridges. Scientists believe that the mega plumes may be formed by undersea volcanic eruptions, and formed by plate tectonics forcing fractures in the crust around the vents. These fractures make a large opening for massive amounts of hot water to escape into the ocean. Another way that they could be formed is by the cooling pillow basalts which erupt at 1,200 degrees Celsius into seawater; which is the most common form of submarine volcanic activity. When scientists discovered the second mega plume in the Pacific Ocean they thought it was formed by the Juan de Fuca ridge that had hydrothermal vents that spewed out jets of mineral-laden with 350 degrees Celsius water in a continuous stream. A mega plume represents an explosion of fluids and produces 100,000 mega watts of energy. The mega watts stir the water which pushes it up to 3,280 to 4,920 feet. One thing that is unique about a mega plume is how the scientists find its generation. They find the generation of a mega plume by releasing buoyant hydrothermal fluid from the sea floor. It may also be generated by venting instantaneous and continuous release of hydrothermal flow from either point. Hydrothermal flow forms a buoyant plume that makes it rise through the water column giving it a neutral buoyancy height. The neutral buoyancy height later forms a neutral cloud. When the neutral cloud eventually becomes unstable that makes it a geostrophic vortex. When governing turbulent plumes and geostrophic vorices are combined it makes a new relationship between the mega plume geometry and the source conditions.
In conclusion scientists have figured out that mega plumes may be made up of more than one component and have different relationships within the mega plumes. There is much to be learned about mega plumes. Scientist are working to discover more about them such as; exactly how they form and what’s in a mega plume.
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