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  • Elsevier  (1)
  • Nature Publishing Group  (1)
  • Aulis Verlag
  • Wiley-VCH
  • 2010-2014  (2)
  • 2013  (2)
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  • 2010-2014  (2)
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  • 1
    Publication Date: 2019-09-23
    Description: The formation of mud volcanoes in the Gulf of Cadiz is closely linked to diapirism in the deep subsurface. The Mercator mud volcano (MMV) is a rare example where diapiric emplacement, in addition to being key for upward fluid migration, is also an important zone for fluid and mineral diagenesis. The most intriguing findings in the near-surface muds of the MMV are extremely high salinities of up to 5.2 M of NaCl from diapiric and evaporitic halite dissolution and the occurrence of authigenic gypsum and anhydrite crystals, both of which have not been observed to date in the Gulf of Cadiz. Employing a thermodynamic model we elucidate how the interplay of temperature pulses, strong salinity gradients, and fluid flow dynamically drive mineral dissolution and re-formation. The strong increase in salinity in the pore fluids has important implications for thermodynamic equilibria by significantly lowering the activity of water, thereby raising the gypsum–anhydrite transition zone from 〉1 km to about 400 m sediment depth at the MMV. This transition is further shifted to immediately below the seafloor during intervals of active mud and fluid expulsion when the MV surface temperature is heated up to at least 30 °C. As a consequence, precipitation of authigenic gypsum near the sediment surface (1–2 mbsf) has been linked to the dissolution of evaporites below the MMV. More precisely, the mechanisms generating supersaturation in the ascending gypsum-saturated MMV fluids are (1) the slow and constant cooling of these fluids along the geothermal gradient during their ascent leading to formation of ubiquitous micro-crystals and (2) the more rapid cooling after a heat pulse or transport from greater and warmer depth during an active mud volcano phase leading to the precipitation of cm-scale gypsum crystals or even fist-size concretions. The MMV fluids approaching the salt diapir from farther below have experienced a genesis similar to those of other mud volcanoes in the Gulf of Cadiz located above deep-rooted faults. These processes include clay mineral dewatering, thermogenic degradation of organic matter and deep high-temperature leaching of terrigenous sediments or continental crust.
    Type: Article , PeerReviewed
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  • 2
    Publication Date: 2019-09-23
    Description: Sediment-hosting hydrothermal systems in the Okinawa Trough maintain a large amount of liquid, supercritical and hydrate phases of CO2 in the seabed. The emission of CO2 may critically impact the geochemical, geophysical and ecological characteristics of the deep-sea sedimentary environment. So far it remains unclear whether microbial communities that have been detected in such high-CO2 and low-pH habitats are metabolically active, and if so, what the biogeochemical and ecological consequences for the environment are. In this study, RNA-based molecular approaches and radioactive tracer-based respiration rate assays were combined to study the density, diversity and metabolic activity of microbial communities in CO2-seep sediment at the Yonaguni Knoll IV hydrothermal field of the southern Okinawa Trough. In general, the number of microbes decreased sharply with increasing sediment depth and CO2 concentration. Phylogenetic analyses of community structure using reverse-transcribed 16S ribosomal RNA showed that the active microbial community became less diverse with increasing sediment depth and CO2 concentration, indicating that microbial activity and community structure are sensitive to CO2 venting. Analyses of RNA-based pyrosequences and catalyzed reporter deposition-fluorescence in situ hybridization data revealed that members of the SEEP-SRB2 group within the Deltaproteobacteria and anaerobic methanotrophic archaea (ANME-2a and -2c) were confined to the top seafloor, and active archaea were not detected in deeper sediments (13–30 cm in depth) characterized by high CO2. Measurement of the potential sulfate reduction rate at pH conditions of 3–9 with and without methane in the headspace indicated that acidophilic sulfate reduction possibly occurs in the presence of methane, even at very low pH of 3. These results suggest that some members of the anaerobic methanotrophs and sulfate reducers can adapt to the CO2-seep sedimentary environment; however, CO2 and pH in the deep-sea sediment were found to severely impact the activity and structure of the microbial community.
    Type: Article , PeerReviewed
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