Santa Barbara Channel’s natural oil seeps are a beach-goer’s bane, flecking the shores with blobs of tar. But the leaking petroleum also creates fascinating geologic and biologic features.
Santa Barbara Channel’s natural oil seeps are a beach-goer’s bane, flecking the shores with blobs of tar. But the leaking petroleum also creates fascinating geologic and biologic features. About 10 miles off the coast of Santa Barbara, several jet-black mounds interrupt the featureless sea floor. These asphalt volcanoes, virtually unique in the world, provide a rare habitat in a region known for its underwater biodiversity.
Marine scientists have compiled the first detailed description of the animal communities that call these formations home. The findings, published in the Bulletin of Marine Science(link is external), detail the different kinds of fishes that live on and around the volcanoes.
Scientists first discovered asphalt volcanoes in the Gulf of Mexico. These vents erupt hot tar instead of lava, slowly building up smooth mounds that can be several dozen feet tall. In 2010, a team led by UC Santa Barbara Professor Dave Valentine documented two volcanoes in the Santa Barbara Channel, which they named Il Duomo and Il Duomito; the taller of the two, Il Duomo, is about 65 feet tall. The group published an account of the geology and characterized the habitat. Since then, scientists have found only one other site, off the coast of Angola.
Read more at: University of California - Santa Barbara
Flag rockfish and three swordspine rockfish swim among a basket star and numerous brittle stars on the side of one of the asphalt volcanoes. (Photo Credit: LOVE, ET AL.)
