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Iron persistence in a distal hydrothermal plume supported by dissolved–particulate exchange

Nature Geoscience volume 10, pages 195–201 (2017)Cite this article

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Abstract

Hydrothermally sourced dissolved metals have been recorded in all ocean basins. In the oceans’ largest known hydrothermal plume, extending westwards across the Pacific from the Southern East Pacific Rise, dissolved iron and manganese were shown by the GEOTRACES program to be transported halfway across the Pacific. Here, we report that particulate iron and manganese in the same plume also exceed background concentrations, even 4,000 km from the vent source. Both dissolved and particulate iron deepen by more than 350 m relative to 3He—a non-reactive tracer of hydrothermal input—crossing isopycnals. Manganese shows no similar descent. Individual plume particle analyses indicate that particulate iron occurs within low-density organic matrices, consistent with its slow sinking rate of 5–10 m yr−1. Chemical speciation and isotopic composition analyses reveal that particulate iron consists of Fe(III) oxyhydroxides, whereas dissolved iron consists of nanoparticulate Fe(III) oxyhydroxides and an organically complexed iron phase. The descent of plume-dissolved iron is best explained by reversible exchange onto slowly sinking particles, probably mediated by organic compounds binding iron. We suggest that in ocean regimes with high particulate iron loadings, dissolved iron fluxes may depend on the balance between stabilization in the dissolved phase and the reversibility of exchange onto sinking particles.

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Figure 1: Interpolated concentrations and station map along the US GEOTRACES GP16 Eastern Pacific Zonal Transect.
Figure 2: Illustration of Fe, Mn and 3Hexs transport and transformation along the SEPR hydrothermal plume.
Figure 3: Relationship between excess 3He and metal inventories in the dissolved and particulate phases in the SEPR hydrothermal plume (2,200–3,000 m).
Figure 4: Depth of peak concentrations in the SEPR hydrothermal plume.
Figure 5: Scanning transmission X-ray microscopy (STXM) images, elemental maps, and spectra for representative plume particles (>0.2 μm).
Figure 6: Dissolved and labile particulate δ56Fe results for hydrothermal depths 2,200–2,800 m.

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Acknowledgements

We thank K. Forsch and A. Malinina for assistance with particulate metal digestions and R. Bu for mass spectrometry support; P. Lam for leading the McLane pump team and designing the filter manifold used for STXM sample collection; S. Rauschenberg, C. Parker, C. Zurbrick, L. Richards, D. Ohnemus and the McLane pump team for help sampling on the GP16 cruise; J. Helgoe and E. Townsend for assistance with sample processing for dissolved δ56Fe; D. Kilcoyne for STXM training and guidance, and R. Sims and B. Cron for beamtime support; and J. Moffett and G. Cutter for their cruise leadership on GP16, as well as the support of the officers and crew of the RV Thomas G Thompson. D. Ohnemus and B. Twining participated in data quality control discussions and intercalibration of the particulate metal measurements, and J. Resing, P. Sedwick and B. Jenkins provided access to their published dissolved Fe, Mn, and 3He data sets and participated in helpful conversations about our data interpretation. This work was funded by the National Science Foundation (OCE-1234827 to R.M.S. and C.R.G., OCE-1235248 to C.R.G., OCE-1232986 to B.M.T., and OCE-1649435 and OCE-1649439 to S.G.J.). The Advance Light Source is supported by the Director, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, of the US Department of Energy under contract No. DE-AC02-05CF11231.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08901, USA

    Jessica N. Fitzsimmons & Robert M. Sherrell

  2. Department of Oceanography, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843, USA

    Jessica N. Fitzsimmons

  3. Department of Earth Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA

    Seth G. John

  4. Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina 29208, USA

    Seth G. John & Christopher M. Marsay

  5. Skidaway Institute of Oceanography, University of Georgia, Savannah, Georgia 31411, USA

    Christopher M. Marsay

  6. Department of Earth Sciences, University of Minnesota—Twin Cities, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA

    Colleen L. Hoffman & Brandy M. Toner

  7. Department of Soil, Water, and Climate, University of Minnesota—Twin Cities, St Paul, Minnesota 55108, USA

    Sarah L. Nicholas & Brandy M. Toner

  8. Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, National University of Ireland, Galway H91 TK33, Ireland

    Sarah L. Nicholas

  9. Department of Geology & Geophysics, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543, USA

    Christopher R. German

  10. Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, USA

    Robert M. Sherrell

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Contributions

J.N.F. determined the digested particulate metal concentrations, led data interpretation, and wrote the manuscript. R.M.S., C.R.G. and B.M.T. co-proposed the particulate studies. R.M.S., S.L.N. and C.R.G. collected samples on the GP16 cruise (C.R.G. as Chief Scientist). S.G.J. and C.M.M. made the Fe isotope measurements. C.L.H. and B.M.T. made the synchrotron measurements. All authors helped to refine the interpretation and contributed to manuscript revisions.

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Correspondence to Jessica N. Fitzsimmons.

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Fitzsimmons, J., John, S., Marsay, C. et al. Iron persistence in a distal hydrothermal plume supported by dissolved–particulate exchange. Nature Geosci 10, 195–201 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2900

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