Sustained volcanically-hosted venting at ultraslow ridges: Piccard Hydrothermal Field, Mid-Cayman Rise

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• 作者：James C. Kinsey ; Christopher R. German
• 关键词：mid-ocean ridges ; hydrothermal venting ; Mid-Cayman Rise ; mineral deposition ; ultraslow spreading
• 刊名：Earth and Planetary Science Letters
• 出版年：2013
• 出版时间：15 October, 2013
• 年：2013
• 卷：380
• 期：Complete
• 页码：162-168
• 全文大小：2240 K

文摘

At slow spreading mid-ocean ridges sustained submarine venting and the deposition of large seafloor massive sulfide deposits have previously been ascribed to tectonically-controlled hydrothermal circulation unrelated to young volcanic activity. Here, by contrast, we show that the Piccard Hydrothermal Field (PHF), on the ultraslow spreading Mid-Cayman Rise, represents a site of sustained fluid flow and sulfide formation hosted in a neovolcanic setting. The lateral extent and apparent longevity associated with the PHF are comparable to some of the largest tectonically-hosted vent sites known along the slow-spreading Mid-Atlantic Ridge. If such systems recur along all ultraslow ridges, which comprise ¡«20 % of the ¡«55,000 km global ridge crest, potential implications would include (i) a higher probability of locating large, economically valuable, mineral deposits along ultraslow ridges together with (ii) larger fluxes than previously anticipated of chemicals released from high-temperature venting entering the oceans along the Atlantic-Indian Ocean sectors of the deep-ocean thermohaline conveyor.