newscientist.com: By Catherine Brahic

Even Jules Verne did not foresee this one. Deep down at the very bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, geochemist Andrea Koschinsky has found something truly extraordinary: “It’s water,” she says, “but not as we know it.”

At over 3 kilometres beneath the surface, sitting atop what could be a huge bubble of magma, it’s the hottest water ever found on Earth. The fluid is in a “supercritical” state that has never before been seen in nature.

The fluid spews out of two black smokers called Two Boats and Sisters Peak. [ read more ]