Abstract
Seawater samples from hydrothermal plumes of Loihi Seamount show very high 3He/ 4He ratios (up to 15.8 × 10 −6) and 4He/ 20Ne ratios higher than that of air-saturated seawater (ASSW). The 3He/ 4He ratio in the source from which the helium is released into the seawater is estimated as (23.1 ± 2.3) × 10 −6 from the correlation plot of 3He/ 20Ne vs. 4He/ 20Ne. The 3He/heat ratio at Loihi is 5–49 times higher than that at the Galapagos Rift and at 21°N EPR. The difference may be attributed to the differences in the structure of the mantle beneath hot spots and the mid-ocean ridge, the former representing the deeper mantle region and the latter the shallower, depleted mantle. These observations are consistent with the view that helium in hydrothermal plumes of Loihi Seamount was derived from a deeper mantle region via a hot spot, where more primordial helium is still preserved.
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