25 leagues under the sea (Image: NOC Southampton)
Captain Nemo had it easy. When robotic submarines are sent 6000 metres to the bottom of an ocean-ridge rift in March, they will face furiously hot temperatures, pressure that gives oil the consistency of treacle, and rugged cliffs that plunge into the abyss. The pay-off, for an international collaboration of researchers called InterRidge, should be an insight into an unexplored world.
The Cayman trough is a 100-kilometre-long rift in the seabed between Jamaica and the Cayman Islands where the ocean floor is slowly pulling apart and new lava seeps up to…
