Exploring the deep
prattipati Shivshankar Rao from the National Institute of Oceanography ( nio ), Goa, has become the first Indian scientist to reach the ocean floor 3,680 metres under the sea level. On invitation from the Rutgers University, usa , Rao joined a three-week long diving cruise expedition into the depths of the mid-Atlantic ridge on board the R V Atlantis along with 23 other scientists mainly from the us , the uk , and Portugal.
The expedition left the Portuguese port of Ponta Delgada in the Azores islands on July 5 and returned to Barbados on July 31. It was sponsored by the us National Science Foundation. On board were biologists, geneticists, and oceanographers eager to map the gene flow and species diversity in the deep sea hydrothermal vent communities.
Rao has been searching for hydrothermal fields and vents also known as deep-sea geysers in the sea near the Andaman Islands in the Indian ocean. He returned from the cruise with 50 kg of suphide samples and hydrothermal minerals, including parts of the chimney vents collected during the entire expedition, where Rao was the main geologist on board. Over the next few months, Rao and the team of nio geologists will analyse the colourful samples.
Sea floor hot springs are responsible for the formation of several metal rich deposits which was first discovered on the East Pacific Rise in 1977. Since then, hydrothermal activity has been found at several locations on the mid-oceanic ridges and on submarine hotspot volcanoes.
Rao joined Bob Vrijenhoek, biologist and the chief of the expedition, for a two-hour descent to the
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