BLACK SMOKER CHIMNEY ROCKS
Some of the most inaccessible rocks on Planet Earth
are on the seafloor, at mid-ocean ridges (spreading centers, where two tectonic
plates are separating). Seafloor hydrothermal vents at mid-ocean ridges
were first discovered back in the 1970s, but they still demand much awe and
wonder.
Near spreading centers, cold ocean water that has
percolated downward into oceanic crust gets heated up and rises through
fracture systems to emerge as seafloor hydrothermal springs. While in the
subsurface, the superheated waters leach out metals and other materials from
the rocks. As the waters emerge from the seafloor, the surrounding cold
bottom waters induce precipitation of dissolved minerals. The result is
small to large chimneys that appear to be smoking (see
example; another
example). ItŐs not really smoke. The chimneys are emitting
clouds of finely-crystalline precipitates. The chimneys themselves are
composed of several different minerals, and are gradually built up by
consolidation of precipitates. The rocks making up these black smokers
are dominated by sulfide minerals.
Here's a partial cross-section slice from two
amalgamated seafloor chimneys. The golden-brown, metallic-lustered,
sparkly material along the upper left margin is principally chalcopyrite
(CuFeS2 - copper iron sulfide). The dark material in the rest
of the specimen is mostly a mix of chalcopyrite and sphalerite (ZnS - zinc
sulfide). The whitish material is principally anhydrite (CaSO4
- calcium sulfate).
Black smoker chimney rock (above & below; 8.8 cm across) - partial
cross-section slice of two amalgamated chimneys.
Below:
labels indicate chimney interiors and white line shows approximate boundary
between the two fused chimneys.
Black smoker chimneys vary in size from quite small to
well over 100' tall. They are moderately unstable on short geologic time
scales. An abundance of odd life forms
occupy the environs of these seafloor hydrothermal vents. Unlike
ecosystems anywhere else, the base of the food chain for these vent biotas is not
photosynthetic organisms, but chemosynthetic organisms. It's been
hypothesized that life on Earth originated in seafloor hydrothermal vent areas.
Collected 19 November 1981 by the deep-sea submersible
Alvin
(Alvin dive # 1156).
Locality:
seafloor hydrothermal vent at 2597 meters depth, northern East Pacific Rise,
near-easternmost Pacific Basin. Coordinates: 20ˇ 51.00Ő North,
109ˇ 04.00Ő West.