title: Hydrothermal vent fields and chemosynthetic biota on the world's deepest seafloor spreading centre.
abstract: The Mid-Cayman spreading centre is an ultraslow-spreading ridge in the Caribbean Sea. Its extreme depth and geographic isolation from other mid-ocean ridges offer insights into the effects of pressure on hydrothermal venting, and the biogeography of vent fauna. Here we report the discovery of two hydrothermal vent fields on the Mid-Cayman spreading centre. The Von Damm Vent Field is located on the upper slopes of an oceanic core complex at a depth of 2,300 m. High-temperature venting in this off-axis setting suggests that the global incidence of vent fields may be underestimated. At a depth of 4,960 m on the Mid-Cayman spreading centre axis, the Beebe Vent Field emits copper-enriched fluids and a buoyant plume that rises 1,100 m, consistent with >400 °C venting from the world's deepest known hydrothermal system. At both sites, a new morphospecies of alvinocaridid shrimp dominates faunal assemblages, which exhibit similarities to those of Mid-Atlantic vents.
authors.affiliation: National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, UK. dpc@noc.soton.ac.uk
authors.forename: Douglas P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Connelly
authors.forename: Jonathan T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Copley
authors.forename: Bramley J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Murton
authors.forename: Kate
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Stansfield
authors.forename: Paul A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Tyler
authors.forename: Christopher R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: German
authors.forename: Cindy L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Van Dover
authors.forename: Diva
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Amon
authors.forename: Maaten
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Furlong
authors.forename: Nancy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Grindlay
authors.forename: Nicholas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hayman
authors.forename: Veit
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Hühnerbach
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Judge
authors.forename: Tim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Le Bas
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: McPhail
authors.forename: Alexandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Meier
authors.forename: Ko-Ichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.forename: Verity
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Nye
authors.forename: Miles
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pebody
authors.forename: Rolf B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Pedersen
authors.forename: Sophie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Plouviez
authors.forename: Carla
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sands
authors.forename: Roger C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Searle
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Stevenson
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Taws
authors.forename: Sally
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wilcox
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D058448:Biota; D017691:Caribbean Region; D033364:Decapoda; D017753:Ecosystem; D005843:Geography; D006358:Hot Temperature; D060086:Hydrothermal Vents; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009792:Oceans and Seas; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012623:Seawater; D013696:Temperature; D014871:Water Microbiology; D014961:X-Ray Diffraction