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Our transcription: The vast commitment of people and technology focused on understanding the sea floor is driven by two fundamental human motives. On one hand is our curiosity about the functioning of nature. The geology of the sea floor holds the answers to many vexing questions about the Earth and its history. What is the origin of the atmosphere and hydrosphere? How and why do the tectonic plates move? How are the Earth's vast deposits of valuable resources, such as metallic ores and petroleum actually formed? The geology of the sea floor holds the answers to these questions and provides unexpected intellectual dividends as well, such as the fantastic discovery of a self-contained ecology associated with deep sea hydrothermal vents.
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