Manganese and methane in hydrothermal plumes along the East Pacific Rise, 8°40' to 11°50'N

Other

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

5

Scientific paper

In November, 1991, we surveyed the water column for hydrothermal plumes along 350 km of the East Pacific Rise axis from 8°40' to 11°50'N, using a combination of physical and chemical measurements. Our survey included the two major ridge segments north and south of the Clipperton Transform Fault at about 10°10'N, both limbs of the overlapping spreading centers (OSC's) at 9°03'N and 11°45'N, and a 30-km section of the next ridge segment to the south. We found vigorous plumes along most of this ridge axis, in keeping with its magmatically robust cross-section, axial summit caldera, and shallow, magma-related seismic reflector. These plumes were detectable by both physical (temperature and light attenuation) and chemical (dissolved Mn and CH 4 ) measurements, although the chemical measurements were more sensitive. The least active sections were the southern third of the northern segment from 10°20 to 52'N and the OSCs, especially the OSC at 11°45'N. Plumes there had weak Mn and CH 4 signals and were barely detectable by physical methods. These axial sections were the only ones surveyed that lie deeper than 2600 m and appear to be magma starved. The most active sections on the northern segment gave stronger signals for Mn and temperature than for CH 4 and light attenuation, whereas the opposite was true on the southern segment, which was the site of a volcanic eruption at 9°45-52'N only seven months prior to our cruise. On the northern segment the four physical and chemical plume tracers correlated positively and linearly with one another, suggesting that the segment was fed by relatively uniform end-member fluids with a mean molar ratio of 0.075. The southernmost section surveyed, from 8°42' to 9°08'N, closely resembled the northern segment. The rest of the southern segment fell into three sections with different ratios: 9°39 to 53'N with as high as 10, 9°08 to 39'N with of 0.51, and 9°53' to 10°07'N with of 0.85. The section with the highest was the site of the volcanic eruption, which produced high-temperature, low-salinity, gas-rich vent fluids carrying abundant bacterial particles. The high CH 4 concentrations are clearly associated with the volcanic eruption, but the origin of the CH 4 is unclear.

No associations

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for scientists and scientific papers. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

Manganese and methane in hydrothermal plumes along the East Pacific Rise, 8°40' to 11°50'N does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Manganese and methane in hydrothermal plumes along the East Pacific Rise, 8°40' to 11°50'N, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Manganese and methane in hydrothermal plumes along the East Pacific Rise, 8°40' to 11°50'N will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1353521

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.