In situ measurements of hydrogen sulfide, oxygen, and temperature in diffuse fluids of an ultramafic-hosted hydrothermal vent field (Logatchev, 14°45′N, Mid-Atlantic Ridge): Implications for chemosymbiotic bathymodiolin mussels

Abstract

The Logatchev hydrothermal vent field (14°45′N, Mid-Atlantic Ridge) is located in a ridge segment characterized by mantle-derived ultramafic outcrops. Compared to basalt-hosted vents, Logatchev high-temperature fluids are relatively low in sulfide indicating that the diffuse, low-temperature fluids of this vent field may not contain sufficient sulfide concentrations to support a chemosymbiotic invertebrate community. However, the high abundances of bathymodiolin mussels with bacterial symbionts related to free-living sulfur-oxidizing bacteria suggested that bioavailable sulfide is present at Logatchev. To clarify, if diffuse fluids above mussel beds of Bathymodiolus puteoserpentis provide the reductants and oxidants needed by their symbionts for aerobic sulfide oxidation, in situ microsensor measurements of dissolved hydrogen sulfide and oxygen were combined with simultaneous temperature measurements. High temporal fluctuations of all three parameters were measured above the mussel beds. H 2 S and O 2 coexisted with mean concentrations between 9 and 31 μM (H 2 S) and 216 and 228 μM (O 2). Temperature maxima (≤7.4°C) were generally concurrent with H 2 S maxima (<156 μM) and O 2 minima (≥142 μM). Long-term measurements for 250 days using temperature as a proxy for oxygen and sulfide concentrations indicated that the mussels were neither oxygen limited nor sulfide limited. Our in situ measurements at Logatchev indicate that sulfide may also be bioavailable in diffuse fluids from other ultramafic-hosted vents along slow and ultraslow spreading ridges. Copyright © 2011 by the American Geophysical Union.