How many vent fields? New estimates of vent field populations on ocean ridges from precise mapping of hydrothermal discharge locations
Advanced Search
Select up to three search categories and corresponding keywords using the fields to the right. Refer to the Help section for more detailed instructions.

Search our Collections & Repository

For very narrow results

When looking for a specific result

Best used for discovery & interchangable words

Recommended to be used in conjunction with other fields

Dates

to

Document Data
Library
People
Clear All
Clear All

For additional assistance using the Custom Query please check out our Help Page

i

How many vent fields? New estimates of vent field populations on ocean ridges from precise mapping of hydrothermal discharge locations

Filetype[PDF-922.62 KB]


Details You May Also Like

Details:

  • Journal Title:
    Earth and Planetary Science Letters
  • Personal Author:
  • NOAA Program & Office:
    OAR (Oceanic and Atmospheric Research)
  • Description:
    Decades of exploration for venting sites along spreading ridge crests have produced global datasets that yield estimated mean site spacings of similar to 12-220 km. This conclusion demands that sites where hydrothermal fluid leaks from the seafloor are improbably rare along the 66 000 km global ridge system, despite the high bulk permeability of ridge crest axes. However, to date, exploration methods have neither reliably detected plumes from isolated low-temperature, particle-poor, diffuse sources, nor differentiated individual, closely spaced (clustered within a few kilometers) sites of any kind. Here we describe a much lower mean discharge spacing of 3-20 km, revealed by towing real-time oxidation-reduction-potential and optical sensors continuously along four fast- and intermediate-rate (>55 mm/yr) spreading ridge sections totaling 1470 km length. This closer spacing reflects both discovery of isolated sites discharging particle-poor plumes (25% of all sites) and improved discrimination (at a spatial resolution of similar to 1 km) among clustered discrete and diffuse sources. Consequently, the number of active vent sites on fast and intermediate-rate spreading ridges may be at least a factor of 3-6 higher than now presumed. This increase provides new quantitative constraints for models of seafloor processes such as dispersal of fauna among seafloor and crustal chemosynthetic habitats, biogeochemical impacts of diffuse venting, and spatial patterns of hydrothermal discharge. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
  • Source:
    Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 449, 186-196.
  • DOI:
  • Document Type:
    Journal Article
  • Rights Information:
    Accepted Manuscript
  • Compliance:
    Submitted
  • Main Document Checksum:
  • Download URL:
  • File Type:

Supporting Files

  • No Additional Files
More +

You May Also Like

Checkout today's featured content at repository.library.noaa.gov

Version 3.27.1