blockades worsened the situation for already ailing Confederate troops. Grant bombarded the town of Vicksburg with heavy artillery, and the citizens of Vicksburg were forced to take refuge in hastily dug caves in the hills. After six weeks on constant siege, Pemberton finally surrendered the geographic stronghold of Vicksburg to Grant, along with 30,00 troops. Vicksburg had been considered by Lincoln as the key necessary to achieve ultimate victory over the South. As one historian notes, ôThe capture of Port Hudson, Louisiana, shortly thereafter placed the entire Mississippi river in Union hands. The Confederacy was split in twoö (Campaign, 2003, 1). While this victory did not end the Civil War, it was a death knell for the Confederacy and a major victory for the North. Such was the geographic importance of Vicksburg to the South with respect to military survival.
The discovery of marine hydrothermal vents, 1000s of feet below the ocean surface in the 1980s shocked scientists the world over. Up to this point scientists viewed the depths of the sea as a lifeless zone lacking sunlight and cold in temperature. Any life forms living deep below the surface were thought to feed off of organic material falling from above. By 1980 this view of life 1000s of feet below the ocean surface radically changed from the discovery of what are now known as black smokers or hydrothermal vents. Scientist originally discovered hydrothermal vents near the Galapagos Islands in 1977, when geologists predicting their existence descended 8200 feet below the surface (Meadows, 1996, 1).
The scientists found a hydrothermal vent approximately 100 meters across with 60 Fahrenheit water pouring from openings and cracks in the sea floor (Meadows, 1996, 1). Scientists were shocked to discover something more amazing than the hydrothermal vent û it was crammed full of animal life. Crabs, anemones, assorted fish and a large number of giant tubeworms ...