Guaymas Basin

The mid-ocean ridge system is responsible for the creation of the Guaymas Basin and giving it many features such as hydrothermal circulation and hydrocarbon seeps.

[5][6][7] The formation and characteristics of the Guaymas basin are caused by its location on a mid-ocean ridge system, or a range of underwater volcanoes which occur along divergent plate boundaries.

[8] These gradients lead to dynamic biogeochemical environments, which include features such as high heat flow,[9] hydrothermal plumes,[10] and hydrocarbon seeps,[3] that contribute to the type of ecosystem which thrives in the Guaymas basin.

[7] Hydrothermal circulation happens when water flows downward through broken ocean crust along the volcanic mid-ocean ridge system.

Heterotrophs consume organic matter rained down from the productive surface waters,[5] while chemolithoautotrophs degrade hydrocarbons and oxidize sulfur in the hydrothermal fluid (often cycling these compounds with syntrophic partners).