Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 109, Issue 8, Pages 2831-2835Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1112005109
Keywords
Challenger Deep; convergent margin; hydrothermal vent; Shinkai Seep Field; vesicomyid clam
Categories
Funding
- Institute for Research on Earth Evolution (IFREE)
- Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC)
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science [C21540477, A22244062]
- National Science Foundation [EAR 0840862, 1026150]
- Directorate For Geosciences
- Division Of Earth Sciences [0840862] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
- Directorate For Geosciences
- Division Of Ocean Sciences [0961352] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
- Division Of Ocean Sciences
- Directorate For Geosciences [1026150] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
- Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research [22244062] Funding Source: KAKEN
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Several varieties of seafloor hydrothermal vents with widely varying fluid compositions and temperatures and vent communities occur in different tectonic settings. The discovery of the Lost City hydrothermal field in the Mid-Atlantic Ridge has stimulated interest in the role of serpentinization of peridotite in generating H-2- and CH4-rich fluids and associated carbonate chimneys, as well as in the biological communities supported in highly reduced, alkaline environments. Abundant vesicomyid clam communities associated with a serpentinite-hosted hydrothermal vent system in the southern Mariana forearc were discovered during a DSV Shinkai 6500 dive in September 2010. We named this system the Shinkai Seep Field (SSF). The SSF appears to be a serpentinite-hosted ecosystem within a forearc (convergent margin) setting that is supported by fault-controlled fluid pathways connected to the decollement of the subducting slab. The discovery of the SSF supports the prediction that serpentinite-hosted vents may be widespread on the ocean floor. The discovery further indicates that these serpentinite-hosted low-temperature fluid vents can sustain high-biomass communities and has implications for the chemical budget of the oceans and the distribution of abyssal chemosynthetic life.
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