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Mineralogical and micromorphological characteristics of Si-Fe-Mn oxyhydroxides from the PACMANUS hydrothermal field, Eastern Manus Basin

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Abstract

The mineralogical and micromorphological characteristics of Si-Fe-Mn oxyhydroxides from the dacite-hosted PACMANUS hydrothermal field were analyzed. The samples are poorly crystallized Si-Fe-Mn oxyhydroxides with minor birnessite, todorokite, nontronite, goethite, and opal-A. There are some microtextures which are rather like fossil microbes such as the filamentous silica and the hollow pipes. Flakes of nontronite crystals are found either forming a honeycomb texture or distributed on the surface of the hollow pipes. Nontronite is the product precipitated from low-temperature hydrothermal fluids, and microbes may play a role in its formation. Si-Fe-Mn oxyhydroxides have two kinds of nuclei: Si-Mn nuclei and Si nuclei, both enveloped by the similar Si-Fe outer layer, existing in the rod-shaped oxyhydroxide and spheroidal oxyhydroxide, respectively. In the Si-Mn nuclei, the concentration of SiO2 is between 39.32 wt% and 86.31 wt%, and MnO concentration is between 4.97 wt% and 27.01 wt%, but Fe2O3 concentration is very low (0.54 wt%–3.43 wt%). In the Si nucleus the concentration of SiO2 is 90.17 wt%, but concentration of MnO and Fe2O3 are low, with 0.06 wt% and 3.47 wt%, respectively. The formation of the Si-Mn nucleus is closely related to microbes, whereas the Si nucleus is of inorganic origin.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Seafloor Hydrothermal Activity Laboratory of the Key Laboratory of Marine Geology and Environment, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, 266071, China

    ZhiGang Zeng, Shuai Chen, XiaoYuan Wang, HeGen Ouyang, XueBo Yin & ZhaoXue Li

  2. Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Shuai Chen & HeGen Ouyang

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  1. ZhiGang Zeng
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  2. Shuai Chen
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Correspondence to ZhiGang Zeng.

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Zeng, Z., Chen, S., Wang, X. et al. Mineralogical and micromorphological characteristics of Si-Fe-Mn oxyhydroxides from the PACMANUS hydrothermal field, Eastern Manus Basin. Sci. China Earth Sci. 55, 2039–2048 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-012-4536-7

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