Life in the Field: Exploring the Seafloor

Friday 30th Jan 2026, 9.45am

Hydrothermal systems, where water is heated by magma beneath the Earth’s crust, are much like the little sisters of volcanoes – smaller and quieter, but clamouring away for attention in the background…Here, Sofia Della Sala from Oxford’s Department of Earth Sciences, explains why they are very deserving of our attention, and takes us behind-the-scenes on her first fieldwork expedition, just off the coast of Santorini.