Asymmetric sedimentation on young ocean floor at the East Pacific Rise, 15°S

Abstract

Sediment cover over mid-ocean ridges is expected generally to thicken with seafloor age and distance from spreading center, reflecting symmetric sediment accumulation on both flanks of the ridge. In high quality reflection seismic records and sediment echosounding measurements recently collected across the East Pacific Rise we find a strong asymmetric distribution of sediments. On the eastern flank in the EXCO (Exchange between Crust and Ocean) area at 15°S sediment thickness increases only slowly with distance from the spreading axis, and hence crustal age, to about 15 m on 4.5 Ma old crust and 30 m on 7 Ma old crust. Sediments are draping the basement rather than ponding. On the western flank sediment was sampled that is already 70 m thick on 4.5 Ma old crust and up to 150 m on about 7 Ma old crust. Sediment ponds imply efficient transport by gravitationally driven turbidity currents. Sediment accumulation on the western ridge flanks and the rather flat seafloor indicate a redistribution of sediments. Accumulation of sediments corresponds with the extreme asymmetry of a helium plume at 15°S in the South Pacific. A tongue of high 3He extending westward from the rise near 2500–2700 m depth and a corresponding tongue of high temperature suggesting that the helium plume introduced by hydrothermal activity on the EPR spreading axis is being carried westward by abyssal currents. Fall-out of hydrothermal plumes may contribute and intensify sedimentation on the western flanks. However, it is reasonable to hypothesize that hydrothermal plumes are important agents in the dispersal of the larvae of hydrothermal vent fauna and may be responsible for the enhancement of pelagic zooplankton biomass resulting in a larger mass of pelagic rain.