Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Of or relating to hot water.
  • adjective Of or relating to hot magmatic emanations rich in water.
  • adjective Of or relating to the rocks, ore deposits, and springs produced by such emanations.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Of or relating to heated water: specifically applied to the action of heated waters in producing geological changes by dissolving mineral substances and redepositing them when cooled.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Of or pertaining to hot water; -- used esp. with reference to the action of heated waters in dissolving, redepositing, and otherwise producing mineral changes within the crust of the globe.
  • adjective of, pertaining to, or using the hot waters or steam found at special locations within the earth's crust.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective of, or relating to hot water
  • adjective geology of or relating to emanations of hot water that are rich in minerals, or to the rocks formed from them

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

hydro- +‎ thermal

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Examples

  • In May an arm of the Chinese government submitted plans to explore the seafloor around an underwater ridge in the Indian Ocean near Madagascar, where hot springs in the ocean bottom called hydrothermal vents have created deposits containing gold, silver, copper, nickel, cobalt, and tellurium (used in computers, CDs, and DVDs).

    Mining’s Final Frontier 2010

  • The most likely place for it to occur, he believes, is at miniature undersea volcanoes called hydrothermal vents, where the ingredients and conditions are just right for energy-harnessing chemical machinery to develop.

    Is Life Inevitable? - The Panda's Thumb 2006

  • Among other things, the researchers on board Dayang Yihao located rich deposits of copper, lead and zinc, associated with hot springs called hydrothermal vents that are often found near mid-ocean ridges.

    The Economist: Correspondent's diary 2011

  • Among other things, the researchers on board Dayang Yihao located rich deposits of copper, lead and zinc, associated with hot springs called hydrothermal vents that are often found near mid-ocean ridges.

    The Economist: Correspondent's diary 2011

  • Hot springs beneath the ocean called hydrothermal vents are often teeming with alien-like life.

    Livescience.com 2010

  • In 2009 the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology announced plans to send robotic submarines to study areas near seabed volcanoes, where so-called hydrothermal vents belch out minerals.

    News24 Top Stories 2010

  • Nevada and large competitors such as Ormat and Enel operate so-called hydrothermal plants, which extract hot water from the Earth's crust in order to turn hydroelectric turbines.

    The Globe and Mail - Home RSS feed 2009

  • Nevada and large competitors such as Ormat and Enel operate so-called hydrothermal plants, which extract hot water from the Earth's crust in order to turn hydroelectric turbines.

    The Globe and Mail - Home RSS feed 2009

  • Jefferson Tester patented a drilling technology called hydrothermal spallation.

    t r u t h o u t 2009

  • It is not contended that the effect of the internal fires had no influence on the formation of metalliferous veins, indeed, it is certain that they had, but the action was what is termed hydrothermal (hot water); and such action we may see in progress to-day in New Zealand, where hot springs stream or spout above the surface, when the silica and lime impregnated water, reduced in heat and released from pressure, begins forthwith to deposit the minerals previously held in solution.

    Getting Gold: a practical treatise for prospectors, miners and students

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