Coastal submarine hydrothermal activity off northern Baja California: 2. Evolutionary history and isotope geochemistry

Abstract

A geochemical model of the Punta Banda submarine hydrothermal system (PBSHS) and Ensenada quadrangle subaerial hot springs is developed using 18O/16O, D/H, 34S/32S, 3H, water and gas chemistry. The PBSHS water is a primary high temperature, acid, reducing fluid of old seawater origin which has been titrated by cold, alkaline groundwater of meteoric origin. The final exiting solutions represent a 1 : 1 mixture of the two primary mixing components. In contrast, the subaerial hot spring waters are of unmixed meteoric origin. The subaerial hot spring gas is predominantly atmospheric N2, while the PBSHS contains large amounts of CH4 and N2 derived from trapped marine sediments of Cretaceous age; δS34 values of sampled hydrothermal waters are similar to Cretaceous marine sulfate values and suggest that the waters contacted Cretaceous marine sedimentary strata. The presence of the Alisitos and Rosario marine sedimentary formations of Cretaceous age within the Ensenada‐Punta Banda quadrangle renders support to the above hypothesis. The data also demonstrate that pyrite mineralization and deposition in submarine hydrothermal environments result from the complexing of ferrous iron with elemental sulfur and sulfide and that submarine hydrothermal activity acts as a major source of silica, Ca2+, and trace metals and as a major sink for seawater Mg2+ and SO42−.