Presents a history of the discovery and exploration of hydrothermal vents and undersea volcanoes, and tells how these scientific expeditions help researchers understand marine ecology.

"What would it be like to live sixty feet below the ocean waves? Author Ken Mallory and photographer Brian Skerry found out. They spent a week in the Aquarius underwater laboratory on a coral reef off the Florida Keys. They lived in cramped quarters. They went scuba diving every day to study the fish of the reef and to use the underwater outhouse. They slept in bunks with the constant crackle of snapping shrimp coming through the shell of their underwater...