Scientists have discovered a remarkable underwater "Lost City" beneath the Atlantic Ocean where sea life thrives near thermal vents.

Scientists, led by University of Washington oceanographer Deborah S. Kelly, stumbled across the landscape by accident during a research expedition in 2000 and returned to further investigate in 2003. Their findings were published this week in the journal Science.

The Lost City is unusual in that it is marked by towering white mineral chimneys which stand in contrast to the better-known and better-studied black smoker vents. Black smokers form when very hot water breaks through the ocean floor and comes into contact with frigid ocean water. The water can reach 700 degrees Fahrenheit as it breaks through the floor. The temperature of the escaping water in the Lost City which forms the white chimneys is between 150 and 170 degrees. This creates a highly alkaline environment.

There seems to be little or no carbon dioxide, the key energy source for life at black-smoker vents, microbes found appear to live off the large amounts of methane and hydrogen produced. There seems to be less life around the white chimneys than the black smokers but, according to Deborah Kelly, there is just as much variety. After vacuuming the surface of the white vents Kelly and her team found large numbers of tiny shrimp and crabs, mostly transparent or translucent and less than a half-inch in size, hiding in nooks and crannies.

The Lost City, named for the research vessel Atlantis, was found about nine miles to the side of volcanic areas along oceanic ridge where the black smokers were first discovered.