Abstract
Investigations of the diffusion activities both within and outside the seafloor hydrothermal vents, as well as related mineral genesis, have been one of the key focuses of ocean biogeochemistry studies. Many hydrothermal vents are distributed close to the southern Okinawa Trough on the less-than-30-m deep shallow seafloor off Kueishan Tao, northeast of Taiwan Island. Investigations of temperature, pH and Eh at four depths of hydrothermal plume were carried out near Kueishan Tao at the white (24.83°N, 121.96°E) and yellow (24.83°N, 121.96°E) vents. An 87 h of temperature time series observation-undertaken near the white vent showed that tide is the main factor affecting the background environment. Based on the observed data, 3-dimensional sliced diffusion fields were obtained and analyzed. It was concluded that the plume diffused mainly from north to south due to ebb tide. The yellow vent’s plume could effect as far as the white vent surface. From the temperature diffusion field, the vortices of the plume were observed. The Eh negative abnormality was a better indicator to search for hydrothermal plumes and locate hydrothermal vents than high temperature and low pH abnormalities.
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Foundation item: The National Natural Science Foundation of China under contract No. 40637037; the Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province under contract No. Y5080084; the Science and Technology Project of Zhejiang Province under contract No. 2009C31153; the Youth Foundation for Marine Science of State Oceanic Administration, Public Research Institutes (Second Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Adminstration, PRC) under contract No. 2013529; the Special Fund for Central Universities Fundamental Research; the Fundamental Research Fund of Second Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration, PRC.
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Han, C., Ye, Y., Pan, Y. et al. Spatial distribution pattern of seafloor hydrothermal vents to the southeastern Kueishan Tao offshore Taiwan Island. Acta Oceanol. Sin. 33, 37–44 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13131-014-0405-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13131-014-0405-x