Talk:Beebe Hydrothermal Vent Field

Implications of supercriticality
So the fluid is supercritical at the vent orifice. Does that make its appearance any different from that of other black smokers where the fluid is subcritical? 75.163.204.131 (talk) 03:25, 29 October 2014 (UTC)

Not from a visual perspective, no. Supercritical fluids tend to do weird things with odd elements like lose chlorine, whereas the defining trait of a black smoker is dissolved iron and other metals which eventually precipitate when the plume cools. The Beebe vent field's original plume (Piccard) was detected from some other plume characteristics if I remember correctly, though the plume is particularly buoyant since it is so hot which may give the field the appearance of being "taller" than other black smoker plumes. --Wünderbrot (talk) 20:48, 26 May 2020 (UTC)