A Major Helium-3 Source at 15{degrees}S on the East Pacific Rise.
A Major Helium-3 Source at 15{degrees}S on the East Pacific Rise.
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作者：
J. Lupton;H. Craig
在东太平洋隆起的S纬度15度的深海中，发现了大量富含氦-3的水柱。在烟柱核部，在山脊上方2500米处，氦-3/氦-4的比值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地注入。氦-3羽状物在隆起以东完全不存在，但它可以在新观测到的物理特征上方向西追踪超过2000公里：这里的密度不连续被称为“山脊-峰锋”。注入的羽流提供了一种独特的深海示踪剂，其分布不对称，表明横跨隆起的深部环流是从东向西的。这种氦-3异常的强烈程度和横向范围，与已知的大洋热液观测地点相比，表明海洋中最大的热液气田尚未被发现，它们将在东太平洋隆起的S 15度附近发现。
An extensive plume of water enriched with helium-3 has been discovered in the deep Pacific Ocean at latitude 15 degrees 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 caled 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 hydrohrmal sites, suggest that the largest hydrothermal fields in the ocean are yet to be discovered and that they will be found near 15 degrees S on the East Pacific Rise.