In:
Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union, American Geophysical Union (AGU), Vol. 83, No. 44 ( 2002-10-29), p. 497-502
Abstract:
Sub‐sea floor hydrothermal convection systems discharge as plumes from point sources and as seepage from the ocean bottom. The plumes originate as clear, 150–400°C solutions that vent from mineralized chimneys; precipitate dissolved metals as particles to form black or white smokers as they turbulently mix with ambient seawater; and buoyantly rise hundreds of meters to a level of neutral density where they spread laterally. The seepage discharges from networks of fractures at the rock‐water interface as clear, diffuse flow, with lower temperatures, metal contents, and buoyancy than the smokers. The diffuse flow may be entrained upward into plumes, or laterally by prevailing currents in discrete layers within tens of meters of the sea floor. The role of these flow regimes in dispersing heat, chemicals, and biological material into the ocean from sub‐sea floor hydrothermal convection systems is being studied on a global scale.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
0096-3941
,
2324-9250
DOI:
10.1029/2002EO000347
Language:
English
Publisher:
American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Publication Date:
2002
detail.hit.zdb_id:
24845-9
detail.hit.zdb_id:
2118760-5
detail.hit.zdb_id:
240154-X
SSG:
16,13
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