Introduction: The geologic features “shield fields” and “shield plains” (or “shield terrain”) have been used by a number of Venus researchers and authors of Venus geologic quadrangle maps. However, there has been occasional confusion concerning the two terms and the geologic units they define. Stratigraphic interpretation may vary due to the identification of clusters of small shields as either...

For centuries, dome roofs were used in traditional houses in hot regions such as the Middle East and Mediterranean basin due to its thermal advantages, structural benefits and availability of construction materials. This article presents the computational modelling of the windand buoyancy-induced ventilation in a geodesic dome building in a hot climate. The airflow and temperature distributions...

The zone of active eruptive fissuring (the “spreading axis”) is investigated at an accretionary segment of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. High-resolution side-scan images are used to produce a detailed geologic map of the median valley floor of Segment 18, located immediately south of the Atlantis Transform (30oN). The spreading axis is defined by distinguishing between primary eruptive vents (seamoun...

Ocean acidification is a major threat for marine life but seagrasses are expected to benefit from high CO2. In situ (long-term) and transplanted (short-term) plant incubations of the seagrass Cymodocea nodosa were performed near and away the influence of volcanic CO2 vents at Vulcano Island to test the hypothesis of beneficial effects of CO2 on plant productivity. We relate, for the first time,...

Microorganisms throughout the dark ocean use reduced sulfur compounds for chemolithoautotrophy. In many deep-sea hydrothermal vents, sulfide oxidation is quantitatively the most important chemical energy source for microbial metabolism both at and beneath the seafloor. In this study, the presence and activity of vent endemic Epsilonproteobacteria was examined in six low-temperature diffuse vent...

Vacuolate sulfur bacteria with high morphological similarity to vacuolate-attached filaments previously described from shallow hydrothermal vents (White Point, CA) were found at deep-sea hydrothermal vents. These filamentous bacteria grow in dense mats that cover surfaces and potentially provide a significant source of organic carbon where they occur. Vacuolate-attached filaments were collected...

We have recently criticised the natural pH gradient hypothesis which purports to explain how the difference in pH between fluid issuing from ancient alkali vents and the more acidic Hadean ocean could have driven molecular machines that catalyse reactions that are useful in prebiotic and autotrophic chemistry. In this article, we temporarily suspend our earlier criticism while we consider diffi...