Oceanographers have discovered significant plumes of chemicals that spew from what appears to be the first signs of deep-sea vents. During a survey of the Atlantic's East Scotia Ridge in the south of the equator, Roy Livermore of the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge, UK, and his colleagues detected the deep-sea vents. The plumes were traced at two locations, about 2,500 metres under water. This was disclosed by Livermore at a meeting of the British mid-ocean ridge researchers in London recently ( New Scientist , Vol 164, No 2213).