Relict hydrothermal zones in the TAG Hydrothermal Field, Mid‐Atlantic Ridge 26°N, 45°W

Abstract

Two relict hydrothermal zones were delineated between water depths of 3400 and 3500 m at the lower part of the east wall of the rift valley of the Mid‐Atlantic Ridge in the TAG hydrothermal field using a deep‐towed side scan sonar tow and a camera‐temperature tow along the northern 3 km of the wall, and a submersible transect. Named the North and MIR relict zones, they are located about 4 km and 2 km northeast, respectively, of the known active high‐temperature sulfide mound between water depths of 3625 and 3670 m on the rift valley floor near the base of the east wall. The North zone extends about 2 km along the northern end of the lower east wall. The zone includes two moundlike features up to 30 m high by 200 m in diameter imaged by side scan sonar within a 2‐km‐long line of discontinuous hydrothermal deposits comprising inactive toppled and standing chimneys, layered material, and patchy dark stains on sediment photographed by the camera‐temperature tow. Several other moundlike features were imaged with the side scan sonar outside of the photographic coverage. The MIR relict hydrothermal zone 2 km south of the North zone, named after the MIR submersible used to investigate it, consists of three subzones: (1) a 200‐m‐wide area of diverse types of hydrothermal materials exposed by normal faulting at its western margin; (2) a 400‐m‐wide by 700‐m‐long central area of discrete groups of toppled and standing inactive sulfide chimneys up to 25 m high on a substrate of red metalliferous sediment and carbonate lutite; spires sampled on the highest chimneys are composed of coarse‐grained, recrystallized sulfides dominated by pyrite and chalcopyrite which contain the first primary, free gold grains (2–3 μm diameter) found at a hydrothermal site on a mid‐ocean ridge; and (3) a 150‐m‐wide hummocky area of layered hydrothermal material with the appearance of low temperature precipitates and carbonate lutite with patchy dark stains at its eastern margin. The active sulfide mound, the North zone, and the MIR zone are each located on the fractured western margins of gentle, dome‐shaped areas of pillow flows typically 500 m in diameter interpreted as summits of volcanic centers that may have supplied heat to drive adjacent hydrothermal activity. The distribution and size of the active and inactive hydrothermal zones of the TAG field, the chronology, and the characteristics of relict samples recovered indicate a history of at least 100 ×103 years of high‐temperature hydrothermal episodes with multiple overprinting stages of mineralization accompanied by alteration.