THE UNIVERSITY OF VICTORIA DECEMBER 11, 1998

UVIC RESEARCHER THRILLED

"Spectacular natural laboratory" now protected

Not too many people are happier than UVic marine biologist Dr. Verena Tunnicliffe with the federal government's decision to conserve and protect two sites off of the B.C. coast.

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans has named the Endeavour Hot Vents (250 km southwest of Vancouver Island) and the Bowie Seamount (180 km west of the Queen Charlotte Islands) as pilot marine protected areas.

The Endeavour Hot Vents have been part of Tunnicliffe's extensive studies of hydrothermal vents and the unique tubeworms and other life forms that live in the harsh ocean floor conditions.

Endeavour is the largest and most biologically diverse example of hydrothermal activity on the Juan de Fuca Ridge and is one of the largest and best-known examples of the phenomenon in the world.

The ridge is like a seam running between two portions of the Earth's crust, the Pacific Plate and the Juan de Fuca Plate. Sea water filters through cracks in the ridge and becomes heated to more than 300°C by magma. The water is then ejected back into circulation through "black smokers," carrying with it dissolved metals and minerals that support forms of sea life that were unknown before their discovery in the early 1980s by a team of researchers from the University of Washington.

In July, the American Museum of Natural History contracted UW to recover parts of the large sulphide deposits for display and study purposes.

Along with colleagues from the University du Québec à Montréal and the University of Pennsylvania, Tunnicliffe established a biological observatory at Endeavour in 1994 using the remote submersible ROPOS and other made-in-Canada, deep-sea technology.

Tunnicliffe says the "spectacular natural laboratory" is not only home to rare sea life, but further studies of the rich ore deposits near such hydrothermal sites could help Canada lead the world in establishing guidelines for future marine mining activities. The Canadian mineral exploration industry has shown interest in sea floor sulfide research and its potential to aid exploration of ores on land. Sulphides from Endeavour have been examined for metal content and the site is not a candidate for mineral exploitation.

The Bowie Seamount is an ancient subsea volcano that rises 3,000 metres above the ocean floor. Its crest comes to within 20 metres of the surface, making it a rare shallow water habitat in offshore waters.

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