This video, we're going to talk about the marine benthic zone. Recall that the benthic zone consists of the entire ocean bottom or the entire ocean floor regardless of how shallow or how deep it is. You can think that the 'b' in benthic zone is for the 'b' in bottom. Now, again, much of the benthic zone is going to fall in shallow areas that receive plenty of sunlight. However, because most of the ocean falls in the deeper oceanic zone, most of the benthic zone is going to fall so deep under the ocean surface that it receives very little to no sunlight.
That is going to severely limit the primary production as photosynthesis cannot occur without sufficient amounts of sunlight. However, it is important to keep in mind that there can be deep-sea hydrothermal vents in some parts of the marine benthic zone that can provide a unique source of chemical energy that some specialized organisms can take advantage of and provide some primary production. Now, the marine benthic zone is going to be a nutrient-rich zone, and the reason for that is because there's lots of biomass in the more productive surface waters. When that life dies, it will actually sink towards the bottom, and it will bring along with it the nutrients. The nutrient-rich benthic zone is due to the decomposing dead organisms called detritus that fall to the sea floor, and sometimes this trickling down of the nutrients is referred to as the marine snow effect.
And so this concludes our brief lesson on the marine benthic zone, and we'll be able to get some practice applying these concepts as we move forward. I'll see you all in our next video.