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Treasure of Information

A rock sample, collected from the Central Indian Ridge, a mountain chain running through the Indian Ocean, sparkles with information. It’s interior is lined with a fine-grained mineral called chalcopyrite as well as a white mineral called anhydrite. Researchers on board the research vessel Knorr took the sample in 2001 from a black smoker chimney, one of many structures that can form at high-temperature, seafloor hydrothermal systems. Scientists study them to learn about tectonic processes, and they are of increasing commercial interest for their production of minerals.(Photo by Amy Nevala, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)