Hydrothermal activity on the southern Mid-Atlantic Ridge: Tectonically- and volcanically-controlled venting at 4–5°S

German, Christopher R.; Bennett, Sarah A.; Connelly, Douglas P.; Evans, Alan J.; Murton, Bramley J.; Parson, L. M.; Prien, Ralf D.; Ramirez-Llodra, Eva; Jakuba, Michael V.; Shank, Timothy M.; Yoerger, D.; Baker, Edward T.; Walker, S. L.; Nakamura, Kōichi

doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2008.06.048

Cited by 77 publications

(53 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…Theory that has proven robust in the deep ocean predicts that the turbulent rise of a buoyant hydrothermal plume should approximate to an inverted cone with a half-spreading angle of 30° (26). For example, in recent surveys of previously unexplored sections of Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian ridge crest, autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) dives have relied on this same approximation to routinely intercept more than 10 different buoyant hydrothermal plumes (e.g., 27,28). Using the same approach here, we can predict that the buoyant plume signals we have intercepted at ∼500 m off bottom must originate at a source of venting-the Piccard vent site-that lies within a range of ∼250 m from this location (18°32.687′N, 81°43.170′W) within the red circle projected onto the seabed in Fig.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diverse styles of submarine venting on the ultraslow spreading Mid-Cayman Rise

German

Bowen

Coleman

et al. 2010

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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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 ∼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 ∼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.hydrothermal activity | mid-ocean ridge | microbiology | ocean chemistry | astrobiology

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diverse styles of submarine venting on the ultraslow spreading Mid-Cayman Rise

German

Bowen

Coleman

et al. 2010

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

Self Cite

150

143

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“…The vent system at 5°S comprises three active high temperature vent fields and several sites of diffuse emanations at depths of ~3000 m (German et al, 2008;Haase et al, 2007). At the Turtle Pits field and at Comfortless Cove, 800 m north-east of Turtle Pits, boiling and phase separation of the fluid emanations is evident, with several smokers venting at or above the conditions of the critical point of seawater (407°C at 298 bar, which is the pressure at the seafloor at this site).…”

Section: Sampling Areasmentioning

confidence: 99%

Concentrations and distributions of dissolved amino acids in fluids from Mid-Atlantic Ridge hydrothermal vents

et al. 2010

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“…The southern Mid-Atlantic Ridge is formed by a divergent boundary between the South American Plate and the African Plate that is presently spreading at about 2.5 cm per year [21]. Our operations were conducted on a section of the SMAR to the north of the sites where active hydrothermal vents were first discovered by a combination of deep-tow and deep-submergence technologies culminating in photography by ABE [21] and subsequently sampled by the ROV Marum Quest [22].…”

Section: A Site Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Preliminary deep water results in single-beacon one-way-travel-time acoustic navigation for underwater vehicles

Webster

Eustice

Singh

et al. 2009

2009 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems

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Abstract-This paper reports the development and experimental evaluation of a novel navigation system for underwater vehicles that employs Doppler sonar, synchronous clocks, and acoustic modems to achieve simultaneous acoustic communication and navigation. The system reported herein, which is employed to renavigate the vehicle in post-processing, forms the basis for a vehicle-based real-time navigation system. Existing high-precision absolute navigation techniques for underwater vehicles are impractical over long length scales and lack scalability for simultaneously navigating multiple vehicles. The navigation method reported in this paper relies on a single moving reference beacon, eliminating the requirement for the underwater vehicle to remain in a bounded navigable area. The use of underwater modems and synchronous clocks enables range measurements based on one-way time-of-flight information from acoustic data packet broadcasts. The acoustic data packets are broadcast from the single, moving reference beacon and can be received simultaneously by multiple vehicles within acoustic range. We report experimental results from the first deep-water evaluation of this method using data collected from an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) survey carried out in 4000 m of water on the southern Mid-Atlantic Ridge. We report a comparative experimental evaluation of the navigation fixes provided by the proposed synchronous acoustic navigation system in comparison to navigation fixes obtained by an independent conventional long baseline acoustic navigation system.

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Hydrothermal activity on the southern Mid-Atlantic Ridge: Tectonically- and volcanically-controlled venting at 4–5°S

Cited by 77 publications

References 39 publications

Diverse styles of submarine venting on the ultraslow spreading Mid-Cayman Rise

Diverse styles of submarine venting on the ultraslow spreading Mid-Cayman Rise

Concentrations and distributions of dissolved amino acids in fluids from Mid-Atlantic Ridge hydrothermal vents

Preliminary deep water results in single-beacon one-way-travel-time acoustic navigation for underwater vehicles

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