 About 5,200 photographs of the region were taken, and samples of relatively young solidified magma were found on each side of the central fissure of the rift valley, giving additional proof that the seafloor spreads at this site at a rate of about per year (see plate tectonics,).In a series of dives conducted between 1979–1980 into the Galápagos rift, off the coast of Ecuador, French, Italian, Mexican, and U.S. scientists found vents, nearly high and about across, discharging a mixture of hot water (up to ) and dissolved metals in dark, smoke-like plumes (see hydrothermal vent,).These hot springs play an important role in the formation of deposits that are enriched in copper, nickel, cadmium, chromium, and uranium.