The discovery was greeted with “audible gasps, hoots and high-fives” from scientists, according to a news release from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The agency partnered with Schmidt Ocean Institute and others in an expedition looking for “Lost City” vents along the slowly spreading ridge, which runs down the center of the Atlantic Ocean.

The hot spring-like structures occur where the Earth’s plates converge and spread. They are biodiversity hot spots that teem with ocean life that has adapted to temperatures of over 700 degrees.

They’re also essential to scientists who want more information on the types of conditions thought to have existed on Earth long ago — conditions that gave rise to life on the planet in its early days.

The expedition used a variety of mapping techniques to find the vents, along with a remotely operated vehicle called SuBastian that collected images, measurements and samples from the deep ocean floor.

The researchers describe the newfound vents as “spectacular high-temperature sulfide chimneys.”

Although scientists had long predicted the existence of such vents thousands of feet below the ocean surface, the first vent was discovered relatively recently, in 1977 off the coast of Ecuador. During that expedition, scientists discovered the surprising existence of “extremophiles” — organisms that can withstand extreme environments, which include high pressure and searing temperatures, and that thrive on the chemical processes generated by the vents.