Journal
EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCE LETTERS
Volume 380, Issue -, Pages 162-168Publisher
ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.epsl.2013.08.001
Keywords
mid-ocean ridges; hydrothermal venting; Mid-Cayman Rise; mineral deposition; ultraslow spreading
Categories
Funding
- NSF Award [OCE-1061863]
- NASA awards [NNX09AB75G, NNX09AB76G]
- Directorate For Geosciences
- Division Of Ocean Sciences [1061863] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
- NASA [NNX09AB76G, 120255, 120240, NNX09AB75G] Funding Source: Federal RePORTER
Ask authors/readers for more resources
At slow spreading mid-ocean ridges sustained submarine venting and the deposition of large seafloor massive sulfide deposits have previously been ascribed to tectonically-controlled hydrothermal circulation unrelated to young volcanic activity. Here, by contrast, we show that the Piccard Hydrothermal Field (PHF), on the ultraslow spreading Mid-Cayman Rise, represents a site of sustained fluid flow and sulfide formation hosted in a neovolcanic setting. The lateral extent and apparent longevity associated with the PHF are comparable to some of the largest tectonically-hosted vent sites known along the slowspreading Mid-Atlantic Ridge. If such systems recur along all ultraslow ridges, which comprise 20% of the 55,000 km global ridge crest, potential implications would include (i) a higher probability of locating large, economically valuable, mineral deposits along ultraslow ridges together with (ii) larger fluxes than previously anticipated of chemicals released from high-temperature venting entering the oceans along the Atlantic-Indian Ocean sectors of the deep-ocean thermohaline conveyor. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available