The quantum event of oceanic crustal accretion: impacts of diking at mid-ocean ridges.
Seafloor diking-eruptive events represent the irreducible, quantum events of upper oceanic crustal accretion. They record events by which a large portion of the oceanic crust has formed through geological history. Since 1993, the U.S. Navy's real-time Sound Surveillance System has allowed location of ongoing acoustic signatures of dike emplacement and basalt eruptions at ridge crests in the northeast Pacific. These diking-eruptive events trigger a sequence of related, rapidly evolving physical, chemical, and biological processes. Magmatic volatiles released during these events may provide nutrients for communities of subsea-floor microorganisms, some of which thrive in high-temperature anaerobic environments. Many of the organisms identified from these systems are Archaea. If microorganisms can thrive in the water-saturated pores and cracks within deep, volcanically active portions of our planet, other hydrothermally active planets may harbor similar life forms.
Delaney
J R
JR
School of Oceanography, University of Washington, Seattle 98195, USA.
Kelley
D S
DS
Lilley
M D
MD
Butterfield
D A
DA
Baross
J A
JA
Wilcock
W S
WS
Embley
R W
RW
Summit
M
M
D001105:Archaea; D018534:Earth, Planet; D019419:Evolution, Planetary; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry / Q000382:microbiology*; D055593:Geological Phenomena; D005844:Geology; D006371:Helium; D006358:Hot Temperature; D007554:Isotopes; D008386:Marine Biology; D010140:Pacific Ocean; D012623:Seawater / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000382:microbiology; D018707:Volcanic Eruptions; D014871:Water Microbiology
D007554:Isotopes; D006371:Helium