HR: 11:50h
AN: T52B-07    [Abstracts]
TI: First Discovery and Investigation of a High-Temperature Hydrothermal Vent Field on the Ultra- Slow Spreading Southwest Indian Ridge
AU: Tao, C
EM: taochunhuimail@163.com
AF: Second Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310012, China
AU: * Lin, J
EM: jlin@whoi.edu
AF: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Dept. Geology and Geophysics, Woods Hole, MA 02543, United States
AU: Guo, S
EM: guo@comra.org
AF: China Ocean Mineral Resources R and D Association (COMRA), 1 Fuxingmenwai Street, Beijing, 100860, China
AU: Chen, Y J
EM: johnyc@pku.edu.cn
AF: Peking University, Department of Geophysics, School of Earth and Space Sciences, Beijing, 100871, China
AU: Wu, G
EM: wugh6866@yahoo.com.cn
AF: Second Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310012, China
AU: Han, X
EM: xqhan@mail.hz.zj.cn
AF: Second Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310012, China
AU: German, C R
EM: cgerman@whoi.edu
AF: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Dept. Geology and Geophysics, Woods Hole, MA 02543, United States
AU: Yoerger, D R
EM: dyoerger@whoi.edu
AF: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Dept. Geology and Geophysics, Woods Hole, MA 02543, United States
AU: Zhu, J
EM: jzhu@whoi.edu
AF: Peking University, Department of Geophysics, School of Earth and Space Sciences, Beijing, 100871, China
AU: Zhou, N
EM: zhouningmail@163.com
AF: China Ocean Mineral Resources R and D Association (COMRA), 1 Fuxingmenwai Street, Beijing, 100860, China
AU: Su, X
EM: xsu@cugb.edu.cn
AF: China University of Geosciences, School of Ocean Sciences, Beijing, 100083, China
AU: Baker, E T
EM: Edward.Baker@noaa.gov
AF: NOAA, Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, Seattle, WA 98115, United States
AU: Party, S
AF: DY115-19, Legs 1 and 2 Science Party, Beijing, 100860, China
AB: Two recent cruises on board the Chinese research vessel Dayang Yihao have successfully investigated the first active hydrothermal vent field to be located along the ultraslow spreading Southwest Indian Ridge (SWIR) and collected hydrothermal sulfide deposit samples. The newly discovered hydrothermal vent field is located on the western end of a magmatically robust spreading segment immediately west of the Gallieni transform fault. Preliminary evidence of strong turbidity anomalies was first measured during a Nov. 2005 cruise on board Dayang Yihao (InterRidge News, vol. 15, pp. 33-34, 2006). Color video footages of the seafloor in the vent-field area were first obtained by a deep-towed video camera in February 2007 during DY115-19 Leg 1, when significant water column turbidity anomalies, noticeable temperature anomalies and methane anomalies were also measured. The vent field was then precisely located, mapped, and photographed in great detail in February- March 2007 during the DY115-19 Leg 2, using the autonomous underwater vehicle ABE of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. A high-resolution bathymetric map, more than 5,000 near-bottom color photos, and several types of water column data were all obtained during three phases of ABE dives. Within the approximately 120-m-long by 100-m-wide hydrothermal field, three groups of active high-temperature vents were identified and color images of black smokers and associated biological communities were obtained from ABE, flying 5 m above the seafloor. Hydrothermal sulfide deposits were then successfully obtained using a TV-guided grab.
DE: 3017 Hydrothermal systems (0450, 1034, 3616, 4832, 8135, 8424)
DE: 3035 Midocean ridge processes
DE: 3045 Seafloor morphology, geology, and geophysics
DE: 8411 Thermodynamics (0766, 1011, 3611)
DE: 9340 Indian Ocean
SC: Tectonophysics [T]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting