# Black Smokers

$$\textbf{Black Smokers}$$ are hydrothermal vent structures that discharge hot, dark fluids from the ocean floor. They generally form near areas with submarine volcanic activity, such as mid-ocean ridges, where hydrothermal fluids circulate through the oceanic crust and exchange elements with the surrounding rocks. As these hot fluids come into contact with the much colder seawater, the dissolved minerals precipitate into particles and may form spectacular chimney-like structures.

Black smokers are known to exist in Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, at an average depth of $$2100\text{ m}$$. The deepest one found was at a depth of $$5000\text{ m}$$.

What would be the gauge pressure (in Pascal) at a $$3000\text{ m}$$ deep vent?

Details and Assumptions:

• Assume the density of ocean does not vary with depth.

• Take $$g=10\text{ ms}^{-2}$$.

• Take the density of ocean as $$1 \times 10^{3} \text{ kg m}^{-3}$$.

• The gauge pressure at a point is the amount by which the pressure at the point exceeds the atmospheric pressure.

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