Hydrothermal Processes at Seafloor Spreading Centers

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xiv

   PDF

2. Geologic Setting

   1. The Four Dimensions of the Spreading Axis

      • Tjeerd H. van Andel

      Pages 1-16

   2. Geologic Processes of the Mid-Ocean Ridge and their Relation to Sulfide Deposition

      • Robert D. Ballard, Jean Francheteau

      Pages 17-25

   3. A Geophysical Comparison between Fast and Slow Spreading Centers: Constraints on Magma Chamber Formation and Hydrothermal Activity

      • Ken C. Macdonald

      Pages 27-51

   4. Geophysical Constraints on the Volume of Hydrothermal Flow at Ridge Axes

      • Norman H. Sleep, Janet L. Morton, Laurel E. Burns, Thomas J. Wolery

      Pages 53-70

3. Hydrothermal Convection

   1. Hydrothermal Convection at Ridge Axes

      • Norman H. Sleep

      Pages 71-82

   2. Oxygen and Hydrogen Isotope Studies of Hydrothermal Interactions at Submarine and Subaerial Spreading Centers

      • Hugh P. Taylor Jr.

      Pages 83-139

   3. The Basic Physics of Water Penetration into Hot Rock

      • C. R. B. Lister

      Pages 141-168

4. Basalt-Seawater Interaction

   1. Basalt — Seawater Exchange: A Perspective from an Experimental Viewpoint

      • Jose Honnorez

      Pages 169-176

   2. Uptake and Transport of Heavy Metals by Heated Seawater: A Summary of the Experimental Results

      • Robert J. Rosenbauer, James L. Bischoff

      Pages 177-197

   3. Hydrothermal Processes at Seafloor Spreading Centers: Application of Basalt-Seawater Experimental Results

      • Michael J. Mottl

      Pages 199-224

   4. Basalt — Seawater Interaction

      • Geoffrey Thompson

      Pages 225-278

5. Iceland and Oceanic Ridges

   1. The Physics and Chemistry of Iceland Versus Mid-Ocean Ridge Hydrothermal Systems: Contrasting Boundary Conditions

      • Roger N. Anderson

      Pages 279-290

   2. Chemical Evidence from Icelandic Geothermal Systems as Compared to Submarine Geothermal Systems

      • Hrefna Kristmannsdóttir

      Pages 291-320

   3. Physical Environment of Hydrothermal Systems in Iceland and on Submerged Oceanic Ridges

      • Valgardur Stefánsson

      Pages 321-360

6. Mass Balances and Cycles

   1. Geochemical Mass Balances and Cycles of the Elements

      • Karl K. Turekian

      Pages 361-367

   2. Preliminary Report on the Chemistry of Hydrothermal Solutions at 21° North, East Pacific Rise

      • K. L. Von Damm, B. Grant, J. M. Edmond

      Pages 369-389

   3. Methane, Hydrogen and Helium in Hydrothermal Fluids at 21°N on the East Pacific Rise

      • J. A. Welhan, H. Craig

      Pages 391-409

   4. Reduced Gases and Bacteria in Hydrothermal Fluids: The Galapagos Spreading Center and 21°N East Pacific Rise

      • Marvin D. Lilley, John A. Baross, Louis I. Gordon

      Pages 411-449

   5. Effects of Hydrothermal Activity on Sedimentary Organic Matter: Guaymas Basin, Gulf of California — Petroleum Genesis and Proto-Kerogen Degradation

      • Bernd R. T. Simoneit

      Pages 451-471

During the past ten years, evidence has developed to indicate that seawater convects through oceanic crust driven by heat derived from creation of lithosphere at the Earth-encircling oceanic ridge-rift system of seafloor spreading centers. This has stimulated multiple lines of research with profound implications for the earth and life sciences. The lines of research comprise the role of hydrothermal convection at seafloor spreading centers in the Earth's thermal regime by cooling of newly formed litho­ sphere (oceanic crust and upper mantle); in global geochemical cycles and mass balances of certain elements by chemical exchange between circulating seawater and basaltic rocks of oceanic crust; in the concentration of metallic mineral deposits by ore-forming processes; and in adaptation of biological communities based on a previously unrecognized form of chemosynthesis. The first work­ shop devoted to interdisciplinary consideration of this field was organized by a committee consisting of the co-editors of this volume under the auspices of a NATO Advanced Research Institute (ARI) held 5-8 April 1982 at the Department of Earth Sciences of Cambridge University in England. This volume is a product of that workshop. The papers were written by members of a pioneering research community of marine geologists, geophysicists, geochemists and biologists whose work is at the stage of initial description and interpretation of hydrothermal and associated phenomena at seafloor spreading centers.

• bridge
• convection
• cooling
• deposits
• mass
• metals
• reading
• research

• Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratories, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Miami, USA

  Peter A. Rona

• University of Stockholm, Stockholm, Sweden

  Kurt Boström

• National Center for Ocean Exploitation, Paris, France

  Lucien Laubier

• Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, La Jolla, USA

  Kenneth L. Smith

Policies and ethics