Publication Date:
2022-05-25
Description:
Author Posting. © The Authors, 2010. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of National Academy of Sciences for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 107 (2010): 14020-14025, doi:10.1073/pnas.1009205107.
Description:
Thirty years after the first discovery of high-temperature submarine venting, the
vast majority of the global Mid Ocean Ridge remains unexplored for hydrothermal
activity. Of particular interest are the world’s ultra-slow spreading ridges which were the
last to be demonstrated to host high-temperature venting, but may host systems
particularly relevant to pre-biotic chemistry and the origins of life.
Here we report first evidence for diverse and very deep hydrothermal vents along the
~110 km long, ultra-slow spreading Mid-Cayman Rise. Our data indicate that the Mid-
Cayman Rise hosts at least three discrete hydrothermal sites, each representing a different
type of water-rock interaction, including both mafic and ultra-mafic systems and, at
~5000 m, the deepest known hydrothermal vent. Although submarine hydrothermal
circulation, in which seawater percolates through and reacts with host lithologies, occurs
on all mid-ocean ridges, the diversity of vent-types identified here and their relative
geographic isolation make the Mid-Cayman Rise unique in the oceans. These new sites
offer prospects for: an expanded range of vent-fluid compositions; varieties of abiotic
organic chemical synthesis and extremophile microorganisms; and unparalleled faunal
biodiversity - all in close proximity.
Description:
This research was funded
through NASA (ASTEP) and WHOI (Ocean Ridge Initiative).
Repository Name:
Woods Hole Open Access Server
Type:
Preprint
Format:
application/pdf
