ALBERT

Description / Table of Contents: Hydrothermal venting at mid-ocean ridges has become one of the fastest-growing areas of interest in the marine geosciences since their discovery at the beginning of the 1980s. Marine geologists, geochemists and biologists are beginning to unravel the processes that generate and focus these high-temperature, chemically charged fluid exhalations, and those that control the colonization and ecology of the bizarre gamut of fauna and flora resident at these sites. Researchers, on the edge of understanding how volcanic and tectonic processes interact to control fluid flow, can show how they can predict the likely occurrence of hydrothermal systems throughout the world ridge system, and how the biomass has flourished in such inhospitable settings. Indeed, the very isolation of the communities has led workers to suggest that their restricted evolutionary path has direct significance for studies of the early origins of life itself. Hydrothermal processes are four-dimensional in their character, on a range of time-scales, which are of the order of thousands of years in terms of the of the lifetime of the hydrothermal sites, down to days in terms of the dispersal of plume products in the water column. The papers in this volume represent the latest reviews and reports of the state-of-the-art understanding of an area of marine science that we are only just beginning to recognize the scope and impact of.

Description / Table of Contents: L. M. Parson, C. L. Walker, and D. R. Dixon: Hydrothermal vents and processes / Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 87:1-2, doi:10.1144/GSL.SP.1995.087.01.01 --- C. R. German, E. T. Baker, and G. Klinkhammer: Regional setting of hydrothermal activity / Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 87:3-15, doi:10.1144/GSL.SP.1995.087.01.02 --- Sergey G. Krasnov, Irina M. Poroshina, and Georgiy A. Cherkashev: Geological setting of high-temperature hydrothermal activity and massive sulphide formation on fast- and slow-spreading ridges / Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 87:17-32, doi:10.1144/GSL.SP.1995.087.01.03 --- Bramley J. Murton, Cindy Van Dover, and Eve Southward: Geological setting and ecology of the Broken Spur hydrothermal vent field: 29°10′N on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge / Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 87:33-41, doi:10.1144/GSL.SP.1995.087.01.04 --- S. G. Krasnov, G. A. Cherkashev, T. V. Stepanova, B. N. Batuyev, A. G. Krotov, B. V. Malin, M. N. Maslov, V. F. Markov, I. M. Poroshina, M. S. Samovarov, A. M. Ashadze, L. I. Lazareva, and I. K. Ermolayev: Detailed geological studies of hydrothermal fields in the North Atlantic / Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 87:43-64, doi:10.1144/GSL.SP.1995.087.01.05 --- Edward T. Baker: Characteristics of hydrothermal discharge following a magmatic intrusion / Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 87:65-76, doi:10.1144/GSL.SP.1995.087.01.06 --- J. M. Edmond, A. C. Campbell, M. R. Palmer, G. P. Klinkhammer, C. R. German, H. N. Edmonds, H. Elderfield, G. Thompson, and P. Rona: Time series studies of vent fluids from the TAG and MARK sites (1986, 1990) Mid-Atlantic Ridge: a new solution chemistry model and a mechanism for Cu/Zn zonation in massive sulphide orebodies / Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 87:77-86, doi:10.1144/GSL.SP.1995.087.01.07 --- G. P. Klinkhammer, C. S. Chin, C. Wilson, and C. R. German: Venting from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge at 37°17′N: the Lucky Strike hydrothermal site / Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 87:87-96, doi:10.1144/GSL.SP.1995.087.01.08 --- R. H. James, H. Elderfield, M. D. Rudnicki, C. R. German, M. R. Palmer, C. Chin, M. J. Greaves, E. Gurvich, G. P. Klinkhammer, E. Ludford, R. A. Mills, J. Thomson, and A. C. Williams: Hydrothermal plumes at Broken Spur, 29°N Mid-Atlantic Ridge: chemical and physical characteristics / Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 87:97-110, doi:10.1144/GSL.SP.1995.087.01.09 --- M. R. Palmer, E. M. Ludford, C. R. German, and M. D. Lilley: Dissolved methane and hydrogen in the Steinahóll hydrothermal plume, 63°N, Reykjanes Ridge / Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 87:111-120, doi:10.1144/GSL.SP.1995.087.01.10 --- Rachel A. Mills: Hydrothermal deposits and metalliferous sediments from TAG, 26°N Mid-Atlantic Ridge / Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 87:121-132, doi:10.1144/GSL.SP.1995.087.01.11 --- F. M. Stuart, P. J. Harrop, R. Knott, A. E. Fallick, G. Turner, Y. Fouquet, and D. Rickard: Noble gas isotopes in 25 000 years of hydrothermal fluids from 13°N on the East Pacific Rise / Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 87:133-143, doi:10.1144/GSL.SP.1995.087.01.12 --- Penny Dickson, Adam Schultz, and Andrew Woods: Preliminary modelling of hydrothermal circulation within mid-ocean ridge sulphide structures / Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 87:145-157, doi:10.1144/GSL.SP.1995.087.01.13 --- A. Rachel Pascoe and Johnson R. Cann: Modelling diffuse hydrothermal flow in black smoker vent fields / Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 87:159-173, doi:10.1144/GSL.SP.1995.087.01.14 --- Rowena C. Duckworth, Richard Knott, Anthony E. Fallick, David Rickard, Bramley J. Murton, and Cindy Van Dover: Mineralogy and sulphur isotope geochemistry of the Broken Spur sulphides, 29°N, Mid-Atlantic Ridge / Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 87:175-189, doi:10.1144/GSL.SP.1995.087.01.15 --- Steven D. Scott and Raymond A. Binns: Hydrothermal processes and contrasting styles of mineralization in the western Woodlark and eastern Manus basins of the western Pacific / Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 87:191-205, doi:10.1144/GSL.SP.1995.087.01.16 --- Richard Knott, Anthony E. Fallick, David Rickard, and Harald Bäcker: Mineralogy and sulphur isotope characteristics of a massive sulphide boulder, Galapagos Rift, 85°55′W / Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 87:207-222, doi:10.1144/GSL.SP.1995.087.01.17 --- G. A. Cherkashev: Hydrothermal input into sediments of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge / Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 87:223-229, doi:10.1144/GSL.SP.1995.087.01.18 --- R. A. Hodkinson and D. S. Cronan: Hydrothermal sedimentation at ODP Sites 834 and 835 in relation to crustal evolution of the Lau Backarc Basin / Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 87:231-248, doi:10.1144/GSL.SP.1995.087.01.19 --- S. M. Sudarikov, M. P. Davydov, V. L. Bazelyan, and V. G. Tarasov: Distribution and transformation of Fe and Mn in hydrothermal plumes and sediments and the potential function of microbiocoenoses / Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 87:249-255, doi:10.1144/GSL.SP.1995.087.01.20 --- Cindy Lee van Dover: Ecology of Mid-Atlantic Ridge hydrothermal vents / Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 87:257-294, doi:10.1144/GSL.SP.1995.087.01.21 --- Bruce Shillito, Jean-Pierre Lechaire, Gérard Goffinet, and Francoise Gaill: Composition and morphogenesis of the tubes of vestimentiferan worms / Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 87:295-302, doi:10.1144/GSL.SP.1995.087.01.22 --- P. R. Dando, J. A. Hughes, and F. Thiermann: Preliminary observations on biological communities at shallow hydrothermal vents in the Aegean Sea / Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 87:303-317, doi:10.1144/GSL.SP.1995.087.01.23 --- S. M. Sudarikov and S. V. Galkin: Geochemistry of the Snake Pit vent field and its implications for vent and non-vent fauna / Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 87:319-327, doi:10.1144/GSL.SP.1995.087.01.24 --- Gareth Rieley, Cindy L. van Dover, David B. Hedrick, David C. White, and Geoffrey Eglinton: Lipid characteristics of hydrothermal vent organisms from 9°N, East Pacific Rise / Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 87:329-342, doi:10.1144/GSL.SP.1995.087.01.25 --- D. R. Dixon, D. A. S. B. Jollivet, L. R. J. Dixon, J. A. Nott, and P. W. H. Holland: The molecular identification of early life-history stages of hydrothermal vent organisms / Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 87:343-350, doi:10.1144/GSL.SP.1995.087.01.26 --- Don A. Cowan: Hyperthermophilic enzymes: biochemistry and biotechnology / Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 87:351-363, doi:10.1144/GSL.SP.1995.087.01.27 --- Christopher R. German and Martin V. Angel: Hydrothermal fluxes of metals to the oceans: a comparison with anthropogenic discharge / Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 87:365-372, doi:10.1144/GSL.SP.1995.087.01.28 --- Kevin G. Speer and Karl R. Helfrich: Hydrothermal plumes: a review of flow and fluxes / Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 87:373-385, doi:10.1144/GSL.SP.1995.087.01.29 --- Mark D. Rudnicki: Particle formation, fallout and cycling within the buoyant and non-buoyant plume above the TAG vent field / Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 87:387-396, doi:10.1144/GSL.SP.1995.087.01.30