In 1977, scientists exploring the ocean floor along the Galapagos Rift stumbled across the first hydrothermal vents and, to their surprise, found them teeming with life. In 1979, the first biological expedition to a hydrothermal vent site was launched at the Galapagos Rift using the Deep Submergence Vehicle Alvin. At depths beyond 1500 meters, scientists discovered a lush vent site filled with tall red tubeworms peeking out of their white tubes, waving in the water like roses in the wind. This site was henceforth named the Rose Garden.

Upon further investigation, scientists found that the Rose Garden was home to one of the most biologically diverse ecosystems ever found. Organisms discovered here, such as 6 foot tall tubeworms, giant clams, white vent crabs, mussels, bacteria, and a unique animal called a dandelion, were very unusual, not only in looks, but in the fact that they were able to withstand high temperatures and high pressure in a world with no light. Some of these organisms were able to use the high concentrations of hydrogen sulfide in the emanating vent water to convert carbon dioxide into carbohydrates in a process called chemosynthesis. These discoveries made at the Rose Garden site sparked many new ideas, including the hopes that the discovery of so many new organisms would lead to new medicines being developed. In addition, our understanding of deep sea currents, life at high temperatures, and seafloor geologic processes was furthered and our understanding of life on Earth was revolutionized.

The abundance of new information found at the Rose Garden led scientists to make the site an ongoing investigation. Scientists were anxious to study the development of a hydrothermal vent community over time and to see how the many different animals interacted with each other. After its discovery, the Rose Garden site was visited in 1985, 1988, and again in 1990. Then, in May of 2002, an expedition sponsored by NOAA (National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration), NSF (National Science Foundation), and WHOI (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute) was sent out to assess the development of the Rose Garden site for the 25^th anniversary of its discovery. Unfortunately, this expedition found no evidence of the Rose Garden or even the dive weights dropped by Alvin on previous expeditions. In the area where Rose Garden once stood, researchers found a bed of relatively new lava, which appeared to have overrun the vent site within the past 10 years and destroyed all the life that had once flourished.

While searching the region where Rose Garden once stood, scientists came across a new site west of the original site. This new site was forming around a vent that still had lower temperatures than Rose Garden, but contained many of the same organisms, however much smaller, which indicated that the site was most likely less than one year old. This new site seemed to be the rebirth of the Rose Garden, inspiring scientists to aptly nickname the new site Rosebud. Rosebud has been an exciting discovery all on its own. The site was so young that it gave scientists the opportunity to watch a vent site grow and develop through its cycle of geologic activity, development of a biologically diverse community, and then the death of the vent. Some of the research already done on the Rosebud site has provided evidence that tubeworms are the first organisms to colonize a developing vent site.

Hydrothermal vent sites have proven to be important sources of information and ideas. Since their discovery in 1977, vents have changed the understandings of scientific disciplines across the globe. Because hydrothermal vent sites continue to give way to major new discoveries, the NSF created LExEn (Life in Extreme Environments), a program to search for new life in extreme environments. Understanding hydrothermal vents and the life that is associated with such extreme environments has not only revolutionized ideas about life on Earth, but has also sparked ideas that may eventually lead to the discovery of life in other parts of the universe. These new concepts substantiate hydrothermal vents as one of the most important scientific discoveries ever made.
 
 

Sources