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Published online 25 May 2006 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news060522-15
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Record hotspot found underwater
Supercritical hydrothermal vent found on Atlantic seabed.
Scientists working in the southern Atlantic Ocean have found a 407 °C hydrothermal vent, the hottest yet known on an ocean floor. Although only 5 °C hotter than the previous deep-sea high of 402 °C, recorded in the Pacific Ocean, the new hotspot bumps seawater into the strange state of being a supercritical fluid.
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