Gary J. Massoth

Oregon Subduction Zone: Venting, Fauna, and Carbonates

Transects of the submersible Alvin across rock outcrops in the Oregon subduction zone have furnished information on the structural and stratigraphic framework of this accretionary complex. Communities of clams and tube worms, and authigenic carbonate mineral precipitates, are associated with venting sites of cool fluids located on a fault-bend anticline at a water depth of 2036 meters. The distribution of animals and carbonates suggests up-dip migration of fluids from both shallow and deep sources along permeable strata or fault zones within these clastic deposits. Methane is enriched in the water column over one vent site, and carbonate minerals and animal tissues are highly enriched in carbon-12. The animals use methane as an energy and food source in symbiosis with microorganisms. Oxidized methane is also the carbon source for the authigenic carbonates that cement the sediments of the accretionary complex. The animal communities and carbonates observed in the Oregon subduction zone occur in strata as old as 2.0 million years and provide criteria for identifying other localities where modern and ancient accreted deposits have vented methane, hydrocarbons, and other nutrient-bearing fluids.

Gradients in the composition of hydrothermal fluids from the Endeavour segment vent field: Phase separation and brine loss

Hydrothermal fluid samples collected in 1984, 1987, and 1988 from a large vent field near 47°57′N on the Endeavour segment of the Juan de Fuca Ridge (JFR) have been analyzed for major and minor elements and gases. There are of the order of 100 individual smoker vents on ∼10 large sulfide structures, which are localized along faults and fault intersections across the vent field. Each sulfide structure has a characteristic fluid composition, which varies very little from one vent orifice to the next, or from year to year, on a given structure. However, there are large gradients in fluid composition across the vent field, with endmember chlorinity increasing from ∼255 mmol/kg in the SW to 505 mmol/kg in the NE. End-member concentrations of major elements are well correlated with chlorinity, and endmember volatile concentrations in the lowest chlorinity fluids are approximately twice as high as in the highest chlorinity fluids. The gradients in composition across the vent field and measured vent fluid temperatures >400°C are consistent with supercritical phase separation and loss of brine phase below the seafloor. The factor-of-2 variation in CO2 (and H2S) is larger than expected for loss of a very high-chlorinity brine. Concentrations of iron and manganese are not positively correlated with chlorinity, suggesting that temperature and pH are more important in controlling metal solubility. Elevated ammonia and bromide/chloride ratios indicate that there has been subseafloor interaction between the hydrothermal fluids and organic matter, and high boron concentrations point to a sedimentary source.

Characteristics of hydrothermal plumes from two vent fields on the Juan de Fuca Ridge, northeast Pacific Ocean

Deep CTD/transmissometer tows and water bottle sampling were used during 1985 to map the regional distribution of the neutrally-buoyant plumes emanating from each of two major vent fields on the Southern Symmetrical Segment (SSS) and Endeavour Segment (ES) of the Juan de Fuca Ridge. At both vent fields, emissions from point and diffuse hydrothermal sources coalesced into a single 200-m-thick plume elongated in the direction of current flow and with characteristic temperature anomalies of 0.02–0.05°C and light-attenuation anomalies of 0.01–0.08 m−1 (10–80 μg/l above background). Temperature anomalies in the core of each plume were uniform as far downcurrent as the plumes were mapped (10–15 km). Downcurrent light-attenuation trends were non-uniform and differed between plumes, apparently because different vent fluid chemistries at each field cause significant differences in the settling characteristics of the hydrothermal precipitates. Vent fluids from the SSS are metal-dominated and mostly precipitate very fine-grained hydrous Fe-oxides that remain suspended in the plume. Vent fluids from the ES are sulfur-dominated and precipitate a high proportion of coarser-grained Fe-sulfides that rapidly settle from the plume. The integrated flux of each vent field was estimated from measurements of the advective transport of each plume. Heat flux was 1700 ± 1100 MW from the ES and 580 ± 351 MW from the SSS. Particle flux varied from 546 ± 312 g/s to 204 ± 116 g/s at the ES depending on distance from the vent field, and was 92 ± 48 g/s from the SSS.

Intra-oceanic subduction-related hydrothermal venting, Kermadec volcanic arc, New Zealand

Intra-oceanic volcanic arcs mark the boundaries between converging lithospheric plates where subduction produces volcanic and tectonic activity that ensures a steady supply of magmatic heat and hydrothermal fluids to the seafloor. Here we report on the first broad and systematic survey of hydrothermal emissions generated along a submarine arc front. More than half (seven of 13) of the volcanoes surveyed along 260 km of the southern Kermadec arc, NE of New Zealand, are hydrothermally active. Our results indicate that volcanic arcs represent a previously unheeded but potentially extensive source of shallow (<2 km water depth) vent fields expelling fluids of a unique and heterogeneous composition into the oceans.

Geochemistry of north Cleft segment vent fluids: Temporal changes in chlorinity and their possible relation to recent volcanism

Hydrothermal vent fluids from the North Cleft segment of the Juan de Fuca Ridge between 44°54′ and 45°00′N were sampled in 1988, 1990, 1991, and 1992. In 1988, chloride-depleted (relative to seawater) diffuse fluids with low dissolved metal concentrations (relative to other mid-ocean ridge (MOR) fluids) were sampled over a distance of ∼10 km along axis. In 1990 and 1991, both high-temperature (>200°C) and diffuse vents were consistently metal- and chloride-enriched. The end-member compositions of high-temperature vents and nearby diffuse vents were very similar. There were small but significant correlated changes in diffuse and high-temperature composition from 1990 to 1991. The large-scale but temporary venting of low-chlorinity fluids over the entire North Cleft segment provides a resolution to the apparent mass imbalance implied by observations of continuous venting of chloride-enriched fluids. It is possible that a volcanic event along the North Cleft segment prior to 1987, for which there is firm geologic evidence, initially caused a boiling event which resulted in the preferential venting of vapor-enriched fluids through 1988, followed by a transition to brine-enriched fluids by 1990. High iron, low sodium, and low Sr/Ca ratios in the high-chlorinity fluids suggest that the brine phase has continued to react and approach reequilibration with an alteration mineral assemblage after the phase separation event. The absence of chloride-depleted fluids from 1990 onward, and the systematics of lithium, boron, and manganese with chloride in the high-temperature fluids from North Cleft suggest that the evolution toward lower chlorinity at Monolith vent from 1990 to 1992 is caused by progressive dilution of a brine with hydrothermal seawater.

Warm springs discovered on 3.5 Ma oceanic crust, eastern flank of the Juan de Fuca Ridge

We have located warm springs on an isolated basement outcrop on 3.5 Ma crust on the eastern flank of the Juan de Fuca Ridge in the northeast Pacific Ocean. These are the first ridge-flank hydrothermal springs discovered on crust older than 1 Ma. The springs are venting altered seawater at 25.0 °C along a fault near the summit of Baby Bare outcrop, a high point along a ridge-axis-parallel basement ridge that is otherwise buried by turbidite sediment. Baby Bare is a small volcano that probably erupted off-axis ca. 1.7 Ma; it is thermally extinct, but acts as a high-permeability conduit for venting of basement fluids. The springs have been sampled from the manned submersible Alvin . Compared with the ambient ocean bottom water, they are heavily depleted in Mg, alkalinity, CO 2 , sulfate, K, Li, U, O 2 , nitrate, and phosphate, and enriched in Ca, chlorinity, ammonia, Fe, Mn, H 2 S, H 2 , CH 4 , 222 Rn, and 226 Ra. The springs appear to support a community of thysirid clams. Although we saw no obvious bacterial mats, the surficial sediments contain the highest biomass concentrations ever measured in the deep sea, based on their phospholipid phosphate content. Areal integration of Alvin heat-flow and pore-water velocity data yields flux estimates of 4–13 L/s and 2–3 MW for the total (diffuse and focused) hydrothermal output from Baby Bare, comparable to that from a black smoker vent on the ridge axis. Warm springs such as those on Baby Bare may be important for global geochemical fluxes.

Biological colonization of new hydrothermal vents following an eruption on Juan de Fuca Ridge

Abstract A recent eruption on CoAxial Segment of Juan de Fuca Ridge initiated hydrothermal conditions with rapid changes in water chemistry and growth of microbial communities. Vent animals recruited from distal sources within a year. One site with newly erupted lava attracted no animals to high-iron and low-sulphide conditions. However, sustained release of flocculent material at a second site suggests extensive subterranean microbial production; here, the dissolved sulphide/heat ratio peaked during the first year. The first larval recruits included vestimentiferans, alvinellid polychaetes and nemerteans; despite the small areal extent of venting, one-third of the regional vent species pool had arrived by 2 years. Near-optimal growth conditions and recruitment by many species continued in the centre of the system but several habitats went extinct within 2 years. Rapid response and exploitation by vent animals must be an important adaptation to such ephemeral conditions.

Scavenging rates of dissolved manganese in a hydrothermal vent plume

Abstract The biogeochemical scavenging of dissolved manganese (Mn) from hydrothermal plumes was investigated using radiotracer ( 54 Mn) techniques. The measured scavenging rate constant, k 1 , was lowest in the buoyant plume ( −1 ), increasing to ∼2 y −1 in the non-buoyant plume at distances of 20 km from the ridge valley axis. The direct biological contribution to the dissolved Mn scavenging rate (i.e the fraction suppressed by the addition of a metabolic poison) also increased over the same distances, being minor or absent at plume depths in the proximal plume, yet the major component at distal plume stations. These and other data suggest that the capacity for scavenging dissolved Mn onto particles evolves with increasing age of the plume, suggestive of a microbial response to changing conditions within the plume. Estimated maximum scavenging rates of dissolved Mn onto particles ( R DMn = k 1 [DMn])were noted at plume depths for all stations, a function of very high dissolved Mn concentrations in the case of the buoyant plume and proximal non-buoyant plume. R DMn values, integrated over plume depths, ranged from 3.4 to 1.7 mM m −2 y −1 for the non-buoyant plume at on-axis and off-axis stations, respectively. The application of the data to the dispersal of hydrothermal constituents and to plume aging is discussed.

The effect of hydrothermal processes on midwater phosphorus distributions in the northeast Pacific

Abstract The distributions of dissolved, particulate and sedimentary phosphorus were measured in the region of the Juan de Fuca Ridge to determine the impacts of hydrothermal processes on the phosphorus cycle in the oceans. Significant negative dissolved phosphate anomalies, ranging from 0 to 60 nmol/l, were observed in the water column at depths between 1900 and 2300 db. The largest anomalies (

Silica and germanium in Pacific Ocean hydrothermal vents and plumes

Dissolved silica (Si) and inorganic germanium (Ge) concentrations were measured in hydrothermal fluids from black smoker vents on the East Pacific Rise (21°N EPR) and the Southern Juan de Fuca Ridge (45°N SJdFR: North and South Cleft Sites, Axial Volcano). These typically display end-member concentrations ranging from 16 to 23 mM (Si) and 150 to 280 nM (Ge), and end-member Ge/Si ratios clustering between 8 and 14 × 10−6, more than 10-fold greater than the ratio entering the ocean via rivers (0.54 × 10−6) and being recycled in seawater (0.7 × 10−6). ‘Excess’ concentrations of dissolved Si and Ge above oceanic background are observed in mid-water hydrothermal plumes over mid-ocean ridge (MOR) spreading centers on the Southern EPR (SEPR) (10°–20°S) and the SJdFR. The largest Si and Ge concentration anomalies occur over the North Cleft Segment of the SJdFR. These are a factor of three greater than anomalies over the SEPR (10°–20°S). Excess Ge correlates with excess3He in plumes at a Ge/3He molar ratio of about 1 × 104, approximately the same ratio as in black smokers. These observations, combined with low abundances of Ge in FeMn-rich metalliferous sediments, suggest that Ge (and Si) behave conservatively in mid-ocean ridge hydrothermal plumes. A simple ocean Si and Ge balance, constrained by the global river silica flux and Ge/Si ratios in hydrothermal vents, rivers and biogenic silica, suggests that the global hydrothermal silica flux is about 1–4 × 1011 mole yr−1, much lower than that estimated from3He. Either (1) 70–80% of the Ge flux to the ocean is removed in as-yet undiscovered sinks (not opal), or (2) only 10% of the mantle to ocean3He and heat fluxes is associated with MOR hydrothermal convection through the 350°C isotherm (90% is off-ridge), or (3) the oceanic Ge/Si,3He/ (and87Sr86Sr) balances today are far from steady-state.