Description: We carried out a search for hydrothermal vents in the Central Basin of Bransfield Strait, Antarctica. The ZAPS (zero angle photon spectrometer) chemical sensor and instrument package (Oregon State University), OFOS (ocean-floor observation system) camera sled and TVG (TV-grab) (GEOMAR) were used to explore the water column and underlying seafloor. These operations were supplemented with a series of dredges. Hydrothermal plumes over Hook Ridge at the eastern end of the basin are confined to the E ridge crest and SE flank. The plumes are complex and sometimes contain two turbidity maxima one widespread feature centered at 1150 m and a smaller, more localized but broad maximum at 600–800 m. We traced the source of the shallower plume to a sunken crater near the ridge crest using sensors on the ZAPS instrument package. Subsequently two TV-grabs from the crater brought back hot, soupy sediment (42–49°C) overlain by hard, siliceous crusts and underlain by a thick layer of volcanic ash. We also recovered chimney fragments whose texture and mineralogy indicate venting temperatures in excess of 250°C. Native sulfur and Fe-sulfides occur in fractures and porous layers in sediment from throughout the area. Pore water data from the crater site are consistent with venting into a thin sediment layer and indicate phase separation of fluids beneath Hook Ridge. The source of the deeper plumes at Hook Ridge has yet to be located. We also explored a series of three parallel volcanic ridges west of Hook Ridge called Three Sisters. We detected water column anomalies indicative of venting with the ZAPS package and recovered hydrothermal barites and sulfides from Middle Sister. We spent considerable time photographing Middle Sister and Hook Ridge but did not identify classic vent fauna at either location. We either missed small areas with our photography or typical MOR vent fauna are absent at these sites.

Description: During the expeditions ANT-XV/2 with R/V Polarstern in 1997/98 and NBP 99-04 with R/V IB N.B. Palmer in 1999, the first samples of hydrothermally influenced sediments of Bransfield Strait were obtained at Hook Ridge, a volcanic edifice in the Central Basin of the Strait. The vent sites are characterized by white siliceous crusts on top of the sediment layer and temperatures measured immediately on deck are up to 48.5°C. The shallow depth of these vent sites (1050 m) particularly controls the chemistry of the pore fluids that are enriched in silica and sulfide and show low pH values. Chloride is depleted up to 20% and the calculated hydrothermal endmember concentration is in the range of 1–84 mM. Since other mechanisms for Cl depletion can be ruled out clearly, the composition of this fluid is attributed to phase separation. While the Cl-depleted fluid is emanating at Hook Ridge, a Cl-enriched fluid can be identified in the adjacent King George Basin. Using a p,x diagram the two corresponding endmember concentrations reveal that the phase separation takes place at subcritical conditions (total depth: ∼2500 m), probably along the whole volcanic edifice