Exploration of ocean’s depths

(Astrobiology Magazine): This October and November, a team of oceanographers and astrobiologists has set out to explore one of the deepest points in the Caribbean Sea. Their goal is to map the region and search for life in the extreme seafloor environment. The study area in the western Caribbean Sea is south of Cuba and Jamaica, and close to the Cayman Islands. Also known as the Mid-Cayman Spreading Center, this is one of Earth’s deepest and slowest-spreading mid-ocean ridges. Such regions are where two of Earth’s tectonic plates are ripped apart and new material wells up from the Earth’s interior.

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