Piccard hydrothermal vents, Mid-Cayman Rise

피카르 열수구 (케이맨 해곡)

A hydrothermal field about 4,960 m deep on the Mid-Cayman Rise in the Caribbean, home to the deepest known black smokers on Earth. Tall mineral chimneys blow out water of about 400 °C, clouded black with sulphides, and swarms of white vent shrimp blanket their walls.

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At a glance

Kind: Deep sea

The Beebe Hydrothermal Vent Field lies on the sea floor just south of Grand Cayman in the Caribbean. At nearly 5,000 metres below the surface, it is the deepest known hydrothermal vent site in the world.

Hydrothermal vents are cracks on the sea floor where water heated by hot rock gushes out. Beebe's vent water is close to 400 degrees Celsius, and the great depth makes the site valuable for studying high-pressure biology and chemistry. Seven sulfide mounds, most of them now inactive, sit on the west side of the spreading ridge. Scientists value the site because the heat, pressure and chemistry together are so extreme.

How was it found?

In 2009 researchers noticed a plume of vent water above the Mid-Cayman Rise, which they nicknamed "Piccard". They used it to predict the location of the vents, and in 2010 a British expedition aboard the RRS James Cook confirmed the site with an underwater vehicle.

The field was named Beebe after William Beebe, an American explorer who dived in a deep-sea sphere. It was found at about 4,960 metres, beating the previous record held by the Ashadze field at about 4,200 metres.

What does it look like?

Beebe has seven sulfide mounds on the west side of a slow-spreading ridge. Most mounds are inactive, but the main vents, called Beebe 1 to 5, branch from one mound and spout very hot fluid.

It sits in the waters of the Cayman Islands. Later expeditions in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2020 kept exploring it. The ridge itself spreads very slowly, at only about 15 to 17 millimetres a year, about as fast as a fingernail grows.