Thirty years after the first discovery of high-temperature submarine venting, the vast majority of the global mid-ocean ridge\u00a0remains unexplored for hydrothermal activity. Of particular interest are the world\u2019s ultraslow spreading ridges that were the last to\u00a0be demonstrated to host high-temperature venting but may host\u00a0systems particularly relevant to prebiotic chemistry and the origins\u00a0of life. Here we report evidence for previously unknown, diverse,\u00a0and very deep hydrothermal vents along the \u223c110 km long, ultra-slow spreading Mid-Cayman Rise (MCR). Our data indicate that the\u00a0MCR hosts at least three discrete hydrothermal sites, each representing a different type of water-rock interaction, including both\u00a0mafic and ultramafic systems and, at \u223c5,000 m, the deepest known\u00a0hydrothermal vent. Although submarine hydrothermal circulation,\u00a0in which seawater percolates through and reacts with host lithologies, occurs on all mid-ocean ridges, the diversity of vent types\u00a0identified here and their relative geographic isolation make the\u00a0MCR unique in the oceans. These new sites offer prospects for\u00a0an expanded range of vent-fluid compositions, varieties of abiotic\u00a0organic chemical synthesis and extremophile microorganisms, and\u00a0unparalleled faunal biodiversity\u2014all in close proximity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Diverse styles of submarine venting on the ultra-slow spreading Mid-Cayman Rise C.R. German, A. Bowen, M.L. Coleman, D.L. Honig, J.A. Huber, M.V. Jakuba, J.C. Kinsey, M.D. Kurz, S. Leroy, J.M. McDermott, B. deLepinay, K. Nakamura, J.S. Seewald, J.L. Smith, S.P. Sylva, C.L. Van Dover, L.L. Whitcomb, and D.R. Yoerger. Proceedings of the National Academy of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":659,"menu_order":7,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.whoi.edu\/site\/jameskinsey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/728"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.whoi.edu\/site\/jameskinsey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.whoi.edu\/site\/jameskinsey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.whoi.edu\/site\/jameskinsey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.whoi.edu\/site\/jameskinsey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=728"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www2.whoi.edu\/site\/jameskinsey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/728\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":730,"href":"https:\/\/www2.whoi.edu\/site\/jameskinsey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/728\/revisions\/730"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.whoi.edu\/site\/jameskinsey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.whoi.edu\/site\/jameskinsey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}