Rachel Haymon is a marine geologist known for her work linking geological and biological processes occurring at deep-sea

hydrothermal vent Hydrothermal vents are fissures on the seabed from which geothermally heated water discharges. They are commonly found near volcanically active places, areas where tectonic plates are moving apart at mid-ocean ridges, ocean basins, and hot ...

s. In 2005 she was elected a fellow of the

Geological Society of America The Geological Society of America (GSA) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of the geosciences. History The society was founded in Ithaca, New York, in 1888 by Alexander Winchell, John J. Stevenson, Charles H. Hi ...

Education and career

As a child growing up in Baton Rouge Louisiana,

Marie Curie Maria Salomea Skłodowska-Curie (; ; 7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934), known simply as Marie Curie ( ; ), was a Polish and naturalised-French physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. She was List of female ...

was the only woman scientist Haymon knew. Haymon had multiple ideas about careers as a child, including several scientific options such as oceanographer, archeologist, astronaut. or paleontologist. In college, she decided to study geology and has a B.A. from

Rice University William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University, is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas, United States. Established in 1912, the university spans 300 acres. Rice University comp ...

(1976). In 1982, she earned her Ph.D. from the

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego in communications material, formerly and colloquially UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California, United States. Es ...

working on hydrothermal deposits at 21°N on the

East Pacific Rise The East Pacific Rise (EPR) is a mid-ocean rise (usually termed an oceanic rise and not a mid-ocean ridge due to its higher rate of spreading that results in less elevation increase and more regular terrain), at a divergent tectonic plate bound ...

. Following her Ph.D., she accepted a position at the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an ...

where she was promoted to professor in 1998. Haymon retired from full professor in 2010.

Research

Haymon's research centers on the deposition of minerals at deep-sea hydrothermal vents. Haymon's work on

ophiolite An ophiolite is a section of Earth's oceanic crust and the underlying upper mantle (Earth), upper mantle that has been uplifted and exposed, and often emplaced onto continental crustal rocks. The Greek word ὄφις, ''ophis'' (''snake'') is ...

s in

Oman Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...

revealed fossils of hydrothermal vent worms and geological evidence of hydrothermal venting. As a graduate student, Haymon worked on the mineralogy of hydrothermal vents at 21ºN North along the

using samples collected during the

RISE project The RISE Project (Rivera Submersible Experiments) was a 1979 international marine research project which mapped and investigated seafloor spreading in the Pacific Ocean, at the crest of the East Pacific Rise (EPR) at 21° north latitude. Using a ...

. Using data from 1989, Haymon mapped the distribution of hydrothermal vents along the 9ºNorth of the East Pacific Rise. Then, in 1991, Haymon led the team that returned to this site and discovered a recent eruption on the seafloor. They dubbed the area "Tube Worm Barbecue" because of the dead tubes worms found in the regions with recent lava flow. Haymon described the excitement of seeing the outcome of the recent eruption in a subsequent newspaper article. Repeated visits to the area revealed the tube worms were gone within eleven months after the eruption, replaced by small fish, octopus, and crabs. Later work by Haymon on the East Pacific Rise revealed hydrothermal venting along the ridge-flank sites, away from the black smokers. In 2006, Haymon led the team that discovered the first black smokers within the hydrothermal vents fields near the Galapagos.

Selected publications

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Awards and honors

* AAAS-Newcomb-Cleveland Award (1980), for Spiess et al. paper * Hans Pettersson Bronze Medal, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (1999) * Fellow, Geological Society of America (2005)

References

External links

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1979 archived photo of Haymon
{{DEFAULTSORT:Haymon, Rachel 1953 births American women geologists American geologists Fellows of the Geological Society of America Living people Marine geologists Rice University alumni University of California, San Diego alumni University of California, Santa Barbara faculty 21st-century American women