Methane anomalies in seawater above the Loihi submarine summit area, Hawaii

Journal Article · Thu Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 1987 · Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta; (USA)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/0016-7037(87)90163-3· OSTI ID:7259201

Gamo, Toshitaka; Ishibashi, Junichiro; Sakai, Hitoshi ^[1]; Tilbrook, B ^[2]

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1. Univ. of Tokyo (Japan)
2. Univ. of Hawaii, Honolulu (USA)

Hydrothermal activity above Loihi submarine volcano was characterized by water column distributions of methane, pH and helium-3. It was found that the southern Loihi summit is almost covered with hydrothermal plumes, which have anomalously high concentrations of methane (maximum: 569 {times} 10{sup {minus}6} cm{sup 3} kg{sup {minus}}1) accompanied by high concentrations of helium-3 and low pH values (minimum: 7.18). The plumes consist of two layers: a shallow plume (about 200 m above the summit) and a deep plume (about 100 m above the summit), probably derived from different hydrothermal vents. The shallow and deep plumes showed different CH{sub 4}/{sup 3}He and CH{sub 4}/pH ratios with the same {sup 3}He/pH ratio, which implies that methane concentrations differ between the hydrothermal end members for the two plumes. The variation of methane between the end members is suggested to result from inter-vent inhomogeneity of bacterial activities that consume or produce methane within the vents. Comparison of the CH{sub 4}/{sup 3}He ratios of the two plumes with the previous data for Loihi and other submarine hydrothermal areas confirms that the Loihi hotspot has one to two orders of magnitude smaller CH{sub 4}/{sup 3}He value than those of the East Pacific Rise and the Galapagos spreading centers.

• OSTI ID: 7259201
• Journal Information: Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta; (USA), Journal Name: Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta; (USA) Vol. 51:10; ISSN GCACA; ISSN 0016-7037
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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ENERGY SYSTEMS
FEDERAL REGION IX
FLUIDS
GEOCHEMISTRY
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VOLCANOES
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