A MAJOR HE-3 SOURCE AT 15-DEGREES-S ON THE EAST PACIFIC RISE
A MAJOR HE-3 SOURCE AT 15-DEGREES-S ON THE EAST PACIFIC RISE
复制标题
DOI：
10.1126/science.214.4516.13
复制
发表时间：
1981-01-01
期刊：
影响因子：
56.9
通讯作者：
CRAIG, H
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
LUPTON, JE;CRAIG, H
在东太平洋隆起南纬15°的太平洋深处发现了一大片富含氦-3的水羽。在地幔柱的核心，在脊顶上方2500米的深度，氦-3/氦-4比大气氦的比值高出50%，表明地幔或原始氦通过局部热液系统在扩张中心轴处强烈注入。氦-3羽流在隆起的东部完全不存在，但在一个新观察到的物理特征之上，可以追溯到2000多公里外的西部：这里称为“脊峰锋”的密度不连续。注入羽流提供了独特的深海示踪剂，其不对称分布表明隆升上的深部环流是自东向西的。与已知海洋热液点的观测结果相比，这种氦-3异常的惊人强度和横向范围表明，海洋中最大的热液场尚未被发现，它们将在东太平洋隆起的15°S附近被发现。
An extensive plume of water enriched with helium-3 has been discovered in the deep Pacific Ocean at latitude 15°S on the East Pacific Rise. In the core of the plume, at a depth of 2500 meters over the ridge crest, the helium-3/helium-4 ratio is 50 percent higher than the ratio in atmospheric helium, indicating a strong injection of mantle or primordial helium at the spreading center axis through local hydrothermal systems. The helium-3 plume is completely absent east of the rise, but it can be traced over 2000 kilometers to the west above a newly observed physical feature: a density discontinuity here called the "ridge-crest front." The injected plume provides a unique deep-sea tracer with an asymmetric distribution which shows that the deep circulation across the rise is from east to west. The striking intensity and lateral extent of this helium-3 anomaly, compared to observations at known oceanic hydrothermal sites, suggest that the largest hydrothermal fields in the ocean are yet to be discovered and that they will be found near 15°S on the East Pacific Rise.