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Influence of subsurface biosphere on geochemical fluxes from diffuse hydrothermal fluids

Nature Geoscience volume 4, pages 461–468 (2011)Cite this article

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Abstract

Hydrothermal vents along mid-ocean systems host unique, highly productive biological communities, based on microbial chemoautotrophy, that thrive on the sulphur, metals, nitrogen and carbon emitted from the vents into the deep ocean. Geochemical studies of vents have centred on analyses of high-temperature, focused hydrothermal vents, which exhibit very high flow rates and are generally considered too hot for microbial life. Geochemical fluxes and metabolic activity associated with habitable, lower temperature diffuse fluids remain poorly constrained. As a result, little is known about the extent to which microbial communities, particularly in the subsurface, influence geochemical flux from more diffuse flows. Here, we estimate the net flux of methane, carbon dioxide and hydrogen from diffuse and focused hydrothermal vents along the Juan de Fuca ridge, using an in situ mass spectrometer and flowmeter. We show that geochemical flux from diffuse vents can equal or exceed that emanating from hot, focused vents. Notably, hydrogen concentrations in fluids emerging from diffuse vents are 50% to 80% lower than predicted. We attribute the loss of hydrogen in diffuse vent fluids to microbial consumption in the subsurface, and suggest that subsurface microbial communities can significantly influence hydrothermal geochemical fluxes to the deep ocean.

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Figure 1: Time-series of selected volatile concentrations from survey of the Faulty Towers vent structure in Mothra hydrothermal vent field.
Figure 2: Mixing diagrams of CO2(aq), CH4 and H2 from surveys of Faulty Towers (Mothra), Dante (MEF) and Hulk (MEF) vent structures.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the R/V Atlantis crew and the DSV Alvin crew. Special thanks to S. Kelley and B. Strickrott for their assistance with the in situ mass spectrometer and flowmeter during deployment, as well as J. Robidart and B. Orcutt, who served as DSV Alvin chief scientists and collected ISMS data on dives 4419 and 4420. Special thanks go to R. Hurt and R. Lowell for their help in the design and calibration of the flowmeter. Helpful comments, useful discussion and assistance in the lab were provided by S. Shah, D. Johnston and C.H. Wankel. We are also grateful to J. Melas-Kyriazi for providing assistance with data management. Support for this research was provided, in part, by NSF OCE-0838107 and NASA-ASTEP grant no. 0910169 to P.R.G. and NSF OCE-0937057 to L.N.G.

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  1. Scott D. Wankel

    Present address: Present address: Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA,

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA

    Scott D. Wankel, Christopher J. DiPerna, Alexander S. Bradley & Peter R. Girguis

  2. School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, USA

    Leonid N. Germanovich & Gence Genc

  3. School of Oceanography, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA

    Marvin D. Lilley & Eric J. Olson

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Contributions

S.D.W. and P.R.G. designed, built and calibrated the ISMS and conceived the experiment; S.D.W., L.N.G. and P.R.G. carried out the field deployment and measurements; S.D.W. analysed and interpreted ISMS data; L.N.G. and G.G. analysed flowmeter data; M.D.L., E.J.O. and C.J.D. provided assistance with calibration; M.D.L., A.S.B., E.J.O. and P.R.G. provided assistance with data analysis and interpretation; S.D.W. and P.R.G. wrote the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Scott D. Wankel or Peter R. Girguis.

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Wankel, S., Germanovich, L., Lilley, M. et al. Influence of subsurface biosphere on geochemical fluxes from diffuse hydrothermal fluids. Nature Geosci 4, 461–468 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1183

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