Hydrothermal Vent Chemosynthesis: The Mixing-Zone Habitat

Around every deep-sea hydrothermal vent, sulfide-oxidizing bacteria make a living without sunlight by oxidizing hydrogen sulfide with dissolved oxygen. The catch is that the vent supplies H₂S but no O₂, and the surrounding ocean supplies O₂ but no H₂S — so the reaction can only proceed in the turbulent band where the two plumes mix. This 2D cross-section renders that mixing zone from dual-substrate Monod kinetics, letting you tune the vent's sulfide flux, the ambient oxygen level and the turbulent mixing rate and watch the chemosynthetic bacterial mat's habitable band — and its live biomass — respond in real time.