Genesis of Life » Alvin


The Alvin is one of the few submersibles that actually carry a crew. The illustrations are included by courtesy of Woods Hole Oceanographic Centre website. Since the first discovery of the volcanic vents in the Galapagos Islands many more expeditions to many parts of the world have been carried out, both by Alvin and other submersibles.

One of the most recent in April 2010 was the British expedition to the Cayman Trough in the Caribbean. They discovered the world's deepest underdersea volcanic vents so far visited. They were 3.1 miles (5000 metres) deep in the Cayman Trough in the Caribbean, half a mile deeper than had been been visited previously. Using a deep-diving vehicle remotely controlled from the Royal Research Ship (RSS) James Cook they found slender spires made of copper and iron ores on the sea floor and water erupting at temperatures hot enough to melt lead. Most exiting they discovered a rich and varied biosphere.


Somewhere
by
Ray Goodwin


Somewhere there are mountains
Glistening in the snow
Somewhere there are mountains
That we shall never know

Somewhere there are rivers
Flowing fast and free
Somewhere there are rivers
That we can never see

Somewhere there are oceans
And sun drenched island sands
Forests full of creatures
In vastly distant lands

Somewhere there’s a planet
Beneath an alien star
The people watch our tiny sun
And wonder where we are

One day perhaps we’ll find them
Across the void of space
Perhaps through ways as yet unknown
We’ll meet them face to face


The author of this web site Ray Goodwin holds B.Sc. Degrees from London University in Chemistry, Geology and Physiology and an M.Sc. in Biochemistry. He has spent most of his professional life teaching in Colleges of Technology. On his retirement he has entered the fields of astronomy, astrochemistry, astrobiology and space sciences. He has spent a great deal of his retirement in visiting amateur astronomy societies and in attending European Space Agency Symposia in ESTEC in the Netherlands and other scientific conferences in England and Sweden. He regularly attends the yearly European Astrofest in South Kensington London and other meetings in the UK. He has written scientific articles and given a number of lectures on diverse scientific subjects.

Readers of this web site are invited to e-mail the author ( ray@lifeinthecosmos.com) and discuss their opinions of the topics dealt with and suggest any changes which they think may be helpful.

Life in the Cosmos Website
Version 01.00 - April 20, 2015.