Diversity of Hydrothermal Systems on Slow Spreading Ocean Ridges

Peter A. Rona, Colin W. Devey, Jérôme Dyment, Bramley J. Murton, Peter A. Rona, Colin W. Devey, Jérôme Dyment, Bramley J. Murton

• Publisher: American Geophysical Union
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9780875904788
• eBook ISBN: 9781118671504
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Physical Sciences
• Subtopic: Geophysics

Published by the American Geophysical Union as part of the Geophysical Monograph Series, Volume 188. Diversity of Hydrothermal Systems on Slow Spreading Ocean Ridges presents a multidisciplinary overview of the remarkable emerging diversity of hydrothermal systems on slow spreading ocean ridges in the Atlantic, Indian, and Arctic oceans. When hydrothermal systems were first found on the East Pacific Rise and other Pacific Ocean ridges beginning in the late 1970s, the community consensus held that the magma delivery rate of intermediate to fast spreading was necessary to support black smoker-type high-temperature systems and associated chemosynthetic ecosystems and polymetallic sulfide deposits. Contrary to that consensus, hydrothermal systems not only occur on slow spreading ocean ridges but, as reported in this volume, are generally larger, exhibit different chemosynthetic ecosystems, produce larger mineral deposits, and occur in a much greater diversity of geologic settings than those systems in the Pacific. The full diversity of hydrothermal systems on slow spreading ocean ridges, reflected in the contributions to this volume, is only now emerging and opens an exciting new frontier for ocean ridge exploration, including

• Processes of heat and chemical transfer from the Earth's mantle and crust via slow spreading ocean ridges to the oceans
• The major role of detachment faulting linking crust and mantle in hydrothermal circulation
• Chemical reaction products of mantle involvement including serpentinization, natural hydrogen, abiotic methane, and hydrocarbon synthesis
• Generation of large polymetallic sulfide deposits hosted in ocean crust and mantle
• Chemosynthetic vent communities hosted in the diverse settings

The readership for this volume will include schools, universities, government laboratories, and scientific societies in developed and developing nations, including over 150 nations that have ratified the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Table of contents

• COVER
• CONTENTS
• SERIES PAGE
• TITLE PAGE
• COPYRIGHT
• PREFACE
• Diversity of Hydrothermal Systems on Slow Spreading Ocean Ridges: Introduction
• Emerging Diversity of Hydrothermal Systems on Slow Spreading Ocean Ridges
• Hydrothermal Circulation at Slow Spreading Ridges: Analysis of Heat Sources and Heat Transfer Processes
• Chemical Signatures From Hydrothermal Venting on Slow Spreading Ridges
• The Magnetic Signature of Hydrothermal Systems in Slow Spreading Environments
• Hydrothermal Activity at the Arctic Mid-Ocean Ridges
• Implications of the Iceland Deep Drilling Project for Improving Understanding of Hydrothermal Processes at Slow Spreading Mid-Ocean Ridges
• Crustal Structure, Magma Chamber, and Faulting Beneath the Lucky Strike Hydrothermal Vent Field
• The Relationships Between Volcanism, Tectonism, and Hydrothermal Activity on the Southern Equatorial Mid-Atlantic Ridge
• The Ultraslow Spreading Southwest Indian Ridge
• Deformation and Alteration Associated With Oceanic and Continental Detachment Fault Systems: Are They Similar?
• Detachment Fault Control on Hydrothermal Circulation Systems: Interpreting the Subsurface Beneath the TAG Hydrothermal Field Using the Isotopic and Geological Evolution of Oceanic Core Complexes in the Atlantic
• Serpentinization and Associated Hydrogen and Methane Fluxes at Slow Spreading Ridges
• High Production and Fluxes of H2 and CH4 and Evidence of Abiotic Hydrocarbon Synthesis by Serpentinization in Ultramafic-Hosted Hydrothermal Systems on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge
• Phase Equilibria Controls on the Chemistry of Vent Fluids From Hydrothermal Systems on Slow Spreading Ridges: Reactivity of Plagioclase and Olivine Solid Solutions and the pH-Silica Connection
• Geodiversity of Hydrothermal Processes Along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and Ultramafic-Hosted Mineralization: A New Type of Oceanic Cu-Zn-Co-Au Volcanogenic Massive Sulfide Deposit
• Hydrothermal Systems: A Decade of Discovery in Slow Spreading Environments
• Chemosynthetic Communities and Biogeochemical Energy Pathways Along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge: The Case of Bathymodiolus azoricus
• Index