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Baker, E.T., C. Hémond, A. Briais, M. Maia, D.S. Scheirer, S.L. Walker, T. Wang, and Y.J. Chen (2014): Correlated patterns in hydrothermal plume distribution and apparent magmatic budget along 2500 km of the Southeast Indian Ridge. Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst., 15(8), 3198–3211, doi: 10.1002/2014GC005344.
Multiple geological processes affect the distribution of hydrothermal venting along a mid-ocean ridge. Deciphering the role of a specific process is often frustrated by simultaneous changes in other influences. Here we take advantage of the almost constant spreading rate (65–71 mm/yr) along 2500 km of the Southeast Indian Ridge (SEIR) between 77°E and 99°E to examine the spatial density of hydrothermal venting relative to regional and segment-scale changes in the apparent magmatic budget. We use 227 vertical profiles of light backscatter and (on 41 profiles) oxidation-reduction potential... more »
Embley, R.W., Y. Tamura, S.G. Merle, T. Sato, O. Oshizuka, W.W. Chadwick, Jr., D.A. Wiens, P. Shore, and R.J. Stern (2014): Eruption of South Sarigan Seamount, Northern Mariana Islands: Insights into hazards from submarine volcanic eruptions. Oceanography, 27(2), 24–31, doi: 10.5670/oceanog.2014.37.
The eruption of South Sarigan Seamount in the southern Mariana arc in May 2010 is a reminder of how little we know about the hazards associated with submarine explosive eruptions or how to predict these types of eruptions. Monitored by local seismometers and distant hydrophones, the eruption from ~ 200 m water depth produced a gas and ash plume that breached the sea surface and rose ~ 12 km into the atmosphere. This is one of the first instances for which a wide range of pre- and post-eruption observations allow characterization of such an event on a shallow submarine volcanic arc volcano... more »
Lavelle, J.W., D. Di Iorio, and P. Rona (2013): A turbulent convection model with an observational context for a deep-sea hydrothermal plume in a time-variable cross-flow. J. Geophys. Res., 118(11), 6145–6160, doi: 10.1002/2013JC009165.
A turbulent convection model for a hydrothermal fluid discharging into a tidally modulated, stratified cross flow is used to investigate time-variable conditions in plumes, such as the one rising from Dante, a sulfide mound at ∼2175 m depth on the Endeavour segment of the Juan de Fuca Ridge. That plume is the consequence of the coalescence of 10 or more small, individual plumes from chimneys discharging hot, salt-diminished fluid into the near-bottom ocean. At Dante, the discharge encounters ambient horizontal currents with speeds oscillating from near zero to a maximum of ∼7 cm s... more »
Chadwick, Jr., W.W., D.A. Clague, R.W. Embley, M.R. Perfit, D.A. Butterfield, D.W. Caress, J.B. Paduan, J.F. Martin, P. Sasnett, S.G. Merle, and A.M. Bobbitt (2013): The 1998 eruption of Axial Seamount: New insights on submarine lava flow emplacement from high-resolution mapping. Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst., 14(10), 3939–3968, doi: 10.1002/ggge.20202.
Axial Seamount, an active submarine volcano on the Juan de Fuca Ridge at 46°N, 130°W, erupted in January 1998 along 11 km of its upper south rift zone. We use ship-based multibeam sonar, high-resolution (1 m) bathymetry, sidescan sonar imagery, and submersible dive observations to map four separate 1998 lava flows that were fed from 11 eruptive fissures. These new mapping results give an eruption volume of 31 × 106 m3, 70% of which was in the northern-most flow, 23% in the southern-most flow, and 7% in two smaller flows in between. We introduce the concept of map-scale submarine... more »
Baker, E.T., W.W. Chadwick, Jr., J.P. Cowen, R.P. Dziak, K.H. Rubin, and D.J. Fornari (2012): Hydrothermal discharge during submarine eruptions: The importance of detection, response, and new technology. Oceanography, 25(1), 128–141, doi: 10.5670/oceanog.2012.11.
Submarine volcanic eruptions and intrusions construct new oceanic crust and build long chains of volcanic islands and vast submarine plateaus. Magmatic events are a primary agent for the transfer of heat, chemicals, and even microbes from the crust to the ocean, but the processes that control these transfers are poorly understood. The 1980s discovery that mid-ocean ridge eruptions are often associated with brief releases of immense volumes of hot fluids ("event plumes") spurred interest in methods for detecting the onset of eruptions or intrusions and for rapidly organizing seagoing... more »