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Black smokers, massive sulphides and vent biota at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge

Nature volume 321, pages 33–37 (1986)Cite this article

Abstract

The discovery of black smokers, massive sulphides and vent biota in the rift valley of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge demonstrates that this assemblage of hydrothermal phenomena is not limited to intermediate-to-fast-spreading oceanic ridges. Hydrothermal exchange processes may thus be important at the ridges which extend through the Atlantic Ocean and western Indian Ocean, comprising more than half of the 55,000-km global length of seafloor spreading centres.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. NOAA/AOML, 4301 Rickenbacker Causeway, Miami, Florida, 33149, USA

    P. A. Rona & T. A. Nelsen

  2. Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02139, USA

    G. Klinkhammer

  3. Department of Oceanography and Ocean Engineering, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, Florida, 32901, USA

    J. H. Trefry

  4. Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB3 0EZ, UK

    H. Elderfield

Authors
  1. P. A. Rona
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  2. G. Klinkhammer
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  4. J. H. Trefry
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  5. H. Elderfield
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Rona, P., Klinkhammer, G., Nelsen, T. et al. Black smokers, massive sulphides and vent biota at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Nature 321, 33–37 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1038/321033a0

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