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Along the Hawaiian-Emperor Seamount Chain at Loihi Seamount--an active submarine volcano 22 miles off the coast of the island of Hawaii and 3,000 feet below sea level--the biologists are conducting research on Zetaproteobacteria, life forms that use iron as an energy source. Zetaproteobacteria form iron-rich microbial mats on Loihi's flanks. Hydrothermal vents, seafloor geysers that support microbial oases, line Loihi's summit. The hot fluids spewing from the vents contain high levels of iron, turning Loihi's underwater slopes an unusual, and characteristic, orange-red. [Source: National Science Foundation]
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