DIVING TO A DEEP-SEA VOLCANO

This newest entry in the essential Scientists in the Field series takes readers to some of the lowest points on the planet—thousands of feet below the ocean’s surface, where colonies of eldritch-looking tube worms and other denizens thrive around sunless, hydrothermal vents that are more times hotter than boiling temperature. Backed up by plenty of color photos, maps and artists’ conceptions, the tour follows both an IMAX film crew and the research of marine biologist Rich Lutz. The latter offers a unique perspective, because in 1991 a site in the Pacific known as Nine North was utterly devastated by a volcanic eruption, and Lutz has been studying the stages and cycles of its biological community’s recovery ever since. Closing with the tantalizing observation that scientists have charted less than one percent of the ocean’s floor, Mallory will leave young readers with a both a better understanding of this unique ecological niche and a sense of wonder about the many mysteries yet to be uncovered. (multimedia resource list) (Nonfiction. 10-13)