Diverse styles of submarine venting on the ultraslow spreading Mid-Cayman Rise
Diverse styles of submarine venting on the ultraslow spreading Mid-Cayman Rise
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DOI：
10.1073/pnas.1009205107
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发表时间：
2010-08-10
影响因子：
11.1
通讯作者：
Yoerger, D. R.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
German, C. R.;Bowen, A.;Yoerger, D. R.
在首次发现海底高温喷口30年后，全球大洋中脊的绝大多数地区仍未进行热液活动勘探。特别令人感兴趣的是世界上的超低速扩张脊，它们是最后被证明存在高温排气的，但可能存在与生命前化学和生命起源特别相关的系统。在这里，我们报告的证据，以前未知的，多样的，非常深的热液喷口沿着类似于110公里长，超低速蔓延中开曼隆起（MCR）。我们的数据表明，MCR至少有三个离散的热液点，每个代表不同类型的水岩相互作用，包括镁铁质和超镁铁质系统，以及在5,000米附近的已知最深热液喷口。虽然所有洋中脊都有海底热液循环，海水在其中渗透并与寄主岩石发生反应，但这里确定的喷口类型多样性及其相对的地理隔离使MCR在海洋中独一无二。这些新的网站提供了一个扩大范围的排气流体成分，非生物有机化学合成和极端微生物的品种，以及无与伦比的动物群生物多样性的前景都在附近。
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 ultraslow spreading ridges that were the last to be demonstrated to host high-temperature venting but may host systems particularly relevant to prebiotic chemistry and the origins of life. Here we report evidence for previously unknown, diverse, and very deep hydrothermal vents along the similar to 110 km long, ultraslow spreading Mid-Cayman Rise (MCR). Our data indicate that the MCR hosts at least three discrete hydrothermal sites, each representing a different type of water-rock interaction, including both mafic and ultramafic systems and, at similar to 5,000 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 MCR 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.