Search

The Hinepuia volcanic center is made up of two distinct edifices aligned northwest to southeast, with an active cone complex in the SE. Hinepuia is one of several active volcanoes in the northern segment of the Kermadec arc. Regional magnetic data shows no evidence for large-scale hydrothermal alteration at Hinepuia, yet plume data confirm present-day hydrothermal discharge, suggesting that the hydrothermal system may be too young to have altered the host rocks with respect to measurable changes in magnetic signal. Gravity data are consistent with crustal thinning and shallow mantle under the volcanic center. Following the discovery of hydrothermal plumes over Hinepuia, the submersible Shinkai 6500 was used to explore the SE cone and sample hydrothermal fluids. The chemistry of hydrothermal fluids from submarine arc and backarc volcanoes are typically dominated by water-rock interactions and/or magmatic degassing. Chemical analyses of vent fluids show that Hinepuia does not quite fit either traditional model. Moreover, the Hinepuia samples fall between those typically ascribed to both end-member fluid types when plotted on a K-Mg-SO4 ternary diagram. Due to evidence of strong degassing, abundant native sulfur deposition, and H2S presence, the vent sampled at Hinepuia is ultimately classified as a magmatic-hydrothermal system with a water-rock influence. This vent is releasing water vapor and magmatic volatiles with a notable lack of salinity due to subcritical boiling and phase separation. Magmatic-hydrothermal fluid chemistry appears to be controlled by a combination of gas flux, phase separation processes, and volcano evolution and/or distance from the magma source.

High-resolution magnetic surveys have been acquired over the partially sedimented Palinuro massive sulfide deposits in the Aeolian volcanic arc, Tyrrhenian Sea. Surveys flown close to the seafloor using an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) show that the volcanic-arc-related basalt-hosted hydrothermal site is associated with zones of lower magnetization. This observation reflects the alteration of basalt affected by hydrothermal circulation and/or the progressive accumulation of a nonmagnetic deposit made of hydrothermal and volcaniclastic material and/or a thermal demagnetization of titanomagnetite due to the upwelling of hot fluids. To discriminate among these inferences, estimate the shape of the nonmagnetic deposit and the characteristics of the underlying altered area—the stockwork—we use high-resolution vector magnetic data acquired by the AUV Abyss (GEOMAR) above a crater-shaped depression hosting a weakly active hydrothermal site. Our study unveils a relatively small nonmagnetic deposit accumulated at the bottom of the depression and locked between the surrounding volcanic cones. Thermal demagnetization is unlikely but the stockwork extends beyond the limits of the nonmagnetic deposit, forming lobe-shaped zones believed to be a consequence of older volcanic episodes having contributed in generating the cones.

[1] We obtained areal variations of crustal thickness, magnetic intensity, and degree of melting of the sub-axial upwelling mantle at Thetis and Nereus Deeps, the two northernmost axial segments of initial oceanic crustal accretion in the Red Sea, where Arabia is separating from Africa. The initial emplacement of oceanic crust occurred at South Thetis and Central Nereus roughly ∼2.2 and ∼2 Ma, respectively, and is taking place today in the northern Thetis and southern Nereus tips. Basaltic glasses major and trace element composition suggests a rift-to-drift transition marked by magmatic activity with typical MORB signature, with no contamination by continental lithosphere, but with slight differences in mantle source composition and/or potential temperature between Thetis and Nereus. Eruption rate, spreading rate, magnetic intensity, crustal thickness and degree of mantle melting were highest at both Thetis and Nereus in the very initial phases of oceanic crust accretion, immediately after continental breakup, probably due to fast mantle upwelling enhanced by an initially strong horizontal thermal gradient. This is consistent with a rift model where the lower continental lithosphere has been replaced by upwelling asthenosphere before continental rupturing, implying depth-dependent extension due to decoupling between the upper and lower lithosphere with mantle-lithosphere-necking breakup before crustal-necking breakup. Independent along-axis centers of upwelling form at the rifting stage just before oceanic crust accretion, with buoyancy-driven convection within a hot, low viscosity asthenosphere. Each initial axial cell taps a different asthenospheric source and serves as nucleus for axial propagation of oceanic accretion, resulting in linear segments of spreading.