Definition: High temperature water ejected from hydrothermal vents and laden with dissolved metals and minerals as a result of percolation through crustal rocks.
Definition: An opening, or rupture, in the Earth's surface or crust, which allows hot, molten rock, ash and gases to escape from deep below the surface.
Definition: The marine hydrothermal vent biome comprises regions of the marine benthic biome where heat generated due to tectonic activity, either at divergent plate boundaries or convergent ocean plates where back-arc spreading occurs, is released or 'vented' to the surface. The resultant high temperature water jets are laden with dissolved metals and minerals.
Definition: Gravel is an environmental material which is composed of pieces of rock that are at least two millimeters (2mm) in its largest dimension and no more than 75 millimeters.
Definition: Sediment is an environmental substance comprised of any particulate matter that can be transported by fluid flow and which eventually is deposited as a layer of solid particles on the bedor bottom of a body of water or other liquid.