Abstract
ALTHOUGH there is indirect evidence that a major fraction of the heat loss from newly-created lithosphere occurs by convection of seawater through the porous crust1–3, it has proved difficult to locate vents of deep-sea hydrothermal systems by direct measurement of the discharge fluid. Local increases in bottom water temperature up to 0.1 °C have been measured by towing arrays of thermistors a few metres above the axes of active oceanic spreading centres4,5, but these data are ambiguous because small temperature anomalies may have a hydrographic explanation. We report here the first conclusive measurements of modified seawater discharging as buoyant hydrothermal plumes from fissures in young oceanic crust. We obtained samples of hydrothermal plumes in the Galapagos Rift3, albeit after considerable dilution with surrounding bottom-water, and report the first results of the collection and analysis of these samples.
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WEISS, R., LONSDALE, P., LUPTON, J. et al. Hydrothermal plumes in the Galapagos Rift. Nature 267, 600–603 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1038/267600a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/267600a0
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