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The potential hydrothermal systems unexplored in the Southwest Indian Ocean

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Abstract

Deep-sea hydrothermal vents possess complex ecosystems and abundant metallic mineral deposits valuable to human being. On-axial vents along tectonic plate boundaries have achieved prominent results and obtained huge resources, while nearly 90% of the global mid-ocean ridge and the majority of the off-axial vents buried by thick oceanic sediments within plates remain as relatively undiscovered domains. Based on previous detailed investigations, hydrothermal vents have been mapped along five sections along the Southwest Indian Ridge (SWIR) with different bathymetry, spreading rates, and gravity features, two at the western end (10°–16°E Section B and 16°–25°E Section C) and three at the eastern end (49°–52°E Section D, 52°–61°E Section E and 61°–70°E Section F). Hydrothermal vents along the Sections B, C, E and F with thin oceanic crust are hosted by ultramafic rocks under tectonic-controlled magmatic-starved settings, and hydrothermal vents along the Section D are associated with exceed magmatism. Limited coverage of investigations is provided along the 35°–47°E SWIR (between Marion and Indomed fracture zones) and a lot of research has been done around the Bouvet Island, while no hydrothermal vents has been reported. Analyzing bathymetry, gravity and geochemical data, magmatism settings are favourable for the occurrence of hydrothermal systems along these two sections. An off-axial hydrothermal system in the southern flank of the SWIR that exhibits ultra-thin oceanic crust associated with an oceanic continental transition is postulated to exist along the 100-Ma slow-spreading isochron in the Enderby Basin. A discrete, denser enriched or less depleted mantle beneath the Antarctic Plate is an alternative explanation for the large scale thin oceanic crust concentrated on the southern flank of the SWIR.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the NSFC projects (Grant Nos. 41502185 and 41325009), China Postdoc Program (2015M580605) and Taishan Scholar Program and Aoshan Talents Program supported by Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology to Prof. Sanzhong Li. We are very grateful to Prof. Jian Lin and Dr. Jian Zhu of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution for providing the gravity data of the Indian Ocean and methods. Most of the figures used in this study were drawn with GMT software (Wessel and Smith 1995).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Submarine Geosciences and Prospecting Techniques, MOE and College of Marine Geosciences, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, 266100, China

    Yanhui Suo, Sanzhong Li, Xiyao Li, Zhen Zhang & Dong Ding

  2. Laboratory for Marine Geology, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao, 266235, China

    Sanzhong Li

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  1. Yanhui Suo
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Correspondence to Sanzhong Li.

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Suo, Y., Li, S., Li, X. et al. The potential hydrothermal systems unexplored in the Southwest Indian Ocean. Mar Geophys Res 38, 61–70 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11001-016-9300-5

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