Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Influence of Global Glaciation on the Origin of Hydrothermal Activity within the Mid-Atlantic Ridge

  • MARINE GEOLOGY
  • Published:
Oceanology Aims and scope

Abstract

Sea level changes during of Earth’s glacial periods the reduce hydrostatic pressure on the ocean bottom. The decrease in hydrostatic pressure increases magmatic activity and, as a result, could lead to the formation of hydrothermal systems [9, 19]. Thus, a correlation between glacial periods and the origin of circulating hydrothermal systems is possible. To test the hypothesis about the relationship between the formation of hydrothermal systems and glacial periods, we compared the 230Th/U age dates of sulfide ores in the northern near-equatorial zone of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and marine isotopic stages, which reflect glacial and interglacial periods. The comparison shows that the glacial periods coincide only with the onset of formation of ore objects associated with basalts within magmatic segments of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Conversely, the periods of formation of ore objects associated with tectonic segments of the ridge within oceanic complexes are unrelated to glaciation. We hypothesize that the relationship between glaciations and the origin of hydrothermal systems is determined by differences in the geological conditions for the formation of seafloor massive sulfides within slow-spreading ridges.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 4.
Fig. 5.

Similar content being viewed by others

REFERENCES

  1. Hydrothermal Sulfide Ores and Metal Sediments of the Ocean (Nedra, St. Petersburg, 1992) [in Russian].

  2. D. V. Grichuk, Thermodynamic Models of Submarine Hydrothermal Systems (Nauchnyi Mir, Moscow, 2000) [in Russian].

    Google Scholar 

  3. V. A. Mironenko, Dynamics of Underground Waters: Manual for Higher Education Institutions (Gornaya Kniga, Moscow, 2009) [in Russian].

    Google Scholar 

  4. The World Ocean, Vol. 3: Solid Minerals and Gas Hydrants in the Ocean (Nauchnyi Mir, Moscow, 2018) [in Russian].

  5. M. B. Andersen, C. H. Stirling, E. K. Potter, et al., “High-precision U-series measurements of more than 500,000 year old fossil corals,” Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 265, 229–245 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. R. Becker, M. G. Langseth, R. P. von Herzen, and R. N. Anderson, “Deep crustal geothermal measurements, hole 504B, Costa Rica Rift,” J. Geophys. Res.: Solid Earth 88, 3447–3457 (1983).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. G. Cherkashov, V. Kuznetsov, K. Kuksa, et al., “Sulfide geochronology along the Northern Equatorial Mid-Atlantic Ridge,” Ore Geol. Rev. 87, 147–154 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. G. Cherkashov and A. Musatov, “Hydrothermal activity, sea level and glaciation: evidence of correlation from the Atlantic SMS deposits,” in Proceedings of the Underwater Mining Conference UMC’2018 “Deep-Sea Mining: Challenges of Going Further and Deeper Advances in Marine Research and Subsea Technology Beyond Oil & Gas” (Bergen, 2018).

  9. J. W. Crowley, R. F. Katz, P. Huybers, et al., “Glacial cycles drive variations in the production of oceanic crust,” Science 347 (6227), 1237–1240 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. B. J. de Martin, R. A. Sohn, J. B. Canales, and S. E. Humphris, “Kinematics and geometry of active detachment faulting beneath the Trans-Atlantic Geotraverse (TAG) hydrothermal field on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge,” Geology 35 (8), 711–714 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. J. Escartín, D. K. Smith, J. Cann, et al., “Central role of detachment faults in accretion of slow-spreading oceanic lithosphere,” Nature 455 (7214), 790–794 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Y. Fouquet, P. Cambon, J. Etoubleau, et al., “Geodiversity of hydrothermal processes along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and ultramafic hosted mineralization: a new type of oceanic Cu–Zn–Co–Au volcanogenic massive sulfide deposit,” in Diversity of Submarine Hydrothermal Systems on Slow Spreading Ocean Ridges, Geophysical Monograph Series vol. 188 (American Geophysical Union, Washington, DC, 2010), pp. 297–320.

    Google Scholar 

  13. C. R. German and L. M. Parson, “Hydrothermal activity on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge: an interplay between magmatic and tectonic processes,” Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 160, 327–341 (1998).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. C. R. German, S. Petersen, and M. D. Hannington, “Hydrothermal exploration of mid-ocean ridges: Where might the largest sulfide deposits be forming?” Chem. Geol. 420, 114–126 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. X. Han, W. Fan, Y. Cai, and M. Li, “Extreme hydrothermal activity on Carlsberg Ridge during the last glacial stage: evidence from an off-axis sediment core,” in Proceedings of the InterRidge Workshop on Hydrothermal Ore-Forming Processes and the Fate of SMS Deposits along Slow and Ultraslow Spreading MOR, Hangzhou (InterRidge Working Group, Paris, 2019).

  16. J. Hasenclever, G. Knorr, L. H. Rüpke, et al., “Sea level fall during glaciation stabilized atmospheric CO2 by enhanced volcanic degassing,” Nat. Commun. 8, 15867 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. J. Imbrie, J. D. Hays, D. G. Martinson, et al., “The orbital theory of Pleistocene climate: support from a revised chronology of the marine δ18O record,” in Milankovitch and Climate: Understanding the Response to Astronomical Forcing, Ed. by A. Berger, (D. Reidel, Dordrecht, 1984), pp. 269–305.

    Google Scholar 

  18. R. P. Lowell, A. Farough, J. Hoover, and K. Cummings, “Characteristics of magma-driven hydrothermal systems at oceanic spreading centers,” Geochem., Geophys., Geosyst. 12 (6), 14 (2013).

    Google Scholar 

  19. D. C. Lund and P. D. Asimow, “Does sea level influence mid-ocean ridge magmatism on Milankovitch timescales?” Geochem., Geophys., Geosyst. 12 (12), 1–26 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. D. C. Lund, P. D. Asimow, K. A. Farley, et al., “Enhanced hydrothermal activity along the East Pacific Rise during the last two glacial terminations,” Science 351 (6272), 478–482 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. J. L. Middleton, S. Mukhopadhyay, J. F. Mcmanus, and C. H. Langmuir, “Last glacial maximum and hydrothermal sediment fluxes on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge,” in Proceedings of the 2015 Goldschmidt Conference, Abstracts of Papers (Prague, 2015), No. 2123.

  22. J. L. Middleton, C. H. Langmuir, S. Mukhopadhyay, et al., “Hydrothermal iron flux variability following rapid sea level changes,” Geophys. Res. Lett. 43, 3848–3856 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. L. B. Railsback, P. L. Gibbard, M. J. Head, et al., “An optimized scheme of lettered marine isotope substages for the last 1.0 million years, and the climatostratigraphic nature of isotope stages and substages,” Quat. Sci. Rev. 111, 94–106 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. N. J. Shackleton, “The last interglacial in the marine and terrestrial record,” Proc. R. Soc. London, Ser. B 174, 135–154 (1969).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. R. M. Spratt and L. E. Lisiecki, “A Late Pleistocene sea level stack,” Clim. Past 12, 1079–1092 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. K. L. von Damm, S. E. Oosting, R. Kozlowski, et al., “Evolution of East Pacific Rise hydrothermal vent fluids following a volcanic eruption,” Nature 375 (6526), 47–50 (1995).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. L. P. Zonenshain, M. I. Kuzmin, A. P. Lisitsin, et al., “Tectonics of the Mid-Atlantic rift valley between the TAG and MARK areas (26–24° N): evidence for vertical tectonism,” Tectonophysics 159 (1–2), 1–23 (1989).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors are grateful to V.Yu. Kuznetsov (St. Petersburg State University) for determining the age of sulfide ores and employees of the Ocean Exploration and Survey Party (JSC PMGE) for providing the ore material.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. VNIIOkeangeologia, St. Petersburg, Russia

    A. E. Musatov & G. A. Cherkashov

  2. Institute of Earth Sciences, St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Russia

    G. A. Cherkashov

Authors
  1. A. E. Musatov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. G. A. Cherkashov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to A. E. Musatov.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Musatov, A.E., Cherkashov, G.A. Influence of Global Glaciation on the Origin of Hydrothermal Activity within the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Oceanology 60, 405–411 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0001437020030066

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0001437020030066

Keywords:

Search

Navigation