Discuss how hydrothermal vents are believed to form. What will be ...

[BrownTown3]

Discuss how hydrothermal vents are believed to form. What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

Describe how salt domes were formed in the Gulf of Mexico. What will be an ideal response?

[ririgirl15]

Answer to Question 1

It is believed that water descends through fissures and cracks in the ridge floor until it
comes into contact with very hot rocks associated with active seafloor spreading.
There the superheated, chemically active water dissolves minerals and gases and
escapes upward through the vents by convection.

Answer to Question 2

Much of the water in the Gulf of Mexico evaporated about 180 million years ago
leaving behind salt deposits. Over time sediment eroded from the Rocky Mountains
was carried by the Mississippi River and deposited south of Texas and Louisiana
overlaying the salt deposits. The weight of the overlying sediment caused domes of
salt to rise, spread out, and dissolve; collapsed salt domes create the pock-marked
bottom characteristic of the Gulf of Mexico.

[BrownTown3]

TYSM

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Gracias!