Post by jonsdigs on Nov 12, 2009 20:32:42 GMT -5
New Find at Sulphur Cave
by Jennie Lay
Steamboat Magazine, Steamboat Springs, CO
A smelly Steamboat curiosity yields an extraordinary scientific discovery.
The cave's unique worms are believed to live on sulfur's chemical
energy, similar to the way tube worms live without light at the bottom
of the ocean.
SULPHUR CAVE has never been a big secret. Cavers know it’s in downtown Steamboat Springs – a small, malodorous hole near the base of a travertine slope that is Howelsen Hill, Colorado’s oldest operating ski area. But at a mere 10,000 years young, it isn’t as old, pretty or big as other caves. It also has other things keeping it off most spelunkers’ radar. “The signs that say you could die in there are very persuasive,” says Rocky Mountain Caving editor Richard Reinhart.
Then veteran caver Mike Frazier came to Steamboat in 2001 and changed everything. Climbing inside Sulphur Cave for a quick peek, Frazier spotted snotties, soft colonies of microorganisms that hang inside caves and resemble the gooey nose drippings for which they are named. Snotties are so globally rare (there are only two other known instances in Colorado, one in Mexico and one in Italy) that it raised scientific curiosity.
In 2007 a team of scientists, cavers and photographers took on the task of exploring this local labyrinth. To date, the team has ventured inside four times using highly specialized gear to combat a toxic atmosphere that burns clothing (and skin) as it condenses and drips, and blackens pocketed pennies. This fall, the team learned that their pain has yielded an extraordinary scientific gain.
The expedition initially focused on the snotties, but the big discovery is worms. More specifically, scientists found squirmy clumps of red worms bearing rare bacteria, known as extremophiles, which may live on hydrogen sulfide. A few species like this live in hydrothermal vents along the Pacific’s mid-ocean ridge, but Sulphur Cave’s worms may turn out to be Earth’s first animals dependent on hydrogen sulfide ever discovered on land.
Full Story
by Jennie Lay
Steamboat Magazine, Steamboat Springs, CO
A smelly Steamboat curiosity yields an extraordinary scientific discovery.
The cave's unique worms are believed to live on sulfur's chemical
energy, similar to the way tube worms live without light at the bottom
of the ocean.
SULPHUR CAVE has never been a big secret. Cavers know it’s in downtown Steamboat Springs – a small, malodorous hole near the base of a travertine slope that is Howelsen Hill, Colorado’s oldest operating ski area. But at a mere 10,000 years young, it isn’t as old, pretty or big as other caves. It also has other things keeping it off most spelunkers’ radar. “The signs that say you could die in there are very persuasive,” says Rocky Mountain Caving editor Richard Reinhart.
Then veteran caver Mike Frazier came to Steamboat in 2001 and changed everything. Climbing inside Sulphur Cave for a quick peek, Frazier spotted snotties, soft colonies of microorganisms that hang inside caves and resemble the gooey nose drippings for which they are named. Snotties are so globally rare (there are only two other known instances in Colorado, one in Mexico and one in Italy) that it raised scientific curiosity.
In 2007 a team of scientists, cavers and photographers took on the task of exploring this local labyrinth. To date, the team has ventured inside four times using highly specialized gear to combat a toxic atmosphere that burns clothing (and skin) as it condenses and drips, and blackens pocketed pennies. This fall, the team learned that their pain has yielded an extraordinary scientific gain.
The expedition initially focused on the snotties, but the big discovery is worms. More specifically, scientists found squirmy clumps of red worms bearing rare bacteria, known as extremophiles, which may live on hydrogen sulfide. A few species like this live in hydrothermal vents along the Pacific’s mid-ocean ridge, but Sulphur Cave’s worms may turn out to be Earth’s first animals dependent on hydrogen sulfide ever discovered on land.
Full Story