Abstract
Natural CO2 releases from shallow marine hydrothermal vents are assumed to mix into the water column, and not accumulate into stratified seafloor pools. We present newly discovered shallow subsea pools located within the Santorini volcanic caldera of the Southern Aegean Sea, Greece, that accumulate CO2 emissions from geologic reservoirs. This type of hydrothermal seafloor pool, containing highly concentrated CO2, provides direct evidence of shallow benthic CO2 accumulations originating from sub-seafloor releases. Samples taken from within these acidic pools are devoid of calcifying organisms, and channel structures among the pools indicate gravity driven flow, suggesting that seafloor release of CO2 at this site may preferentially impact benthic ecosystems. These naturally occurring seafloor pools may provide a diagnostic indicator of incipient volcanic activity and can serve as an analog for studying CO2 leakage and benthic accumulations from subsea carbon capture and storage sites.
Highlights
Charging of its shallow magma chamber by high-flux batches of deeper melts which historically control small effusive and large explosive eruptions[15]
Unlike other sites of known CO2 venting[16] along the Christianna-Santorini-Kolumbo (CSK) tectonic line[17], ebullition was not observed at the Kallisti Limnes and visual inspection yielded no evidence of flow movement or percolation
The Kallisti Limnes and vent mounds are in line with the Kolumbo normal fault onshore (Kolumbo Line in Fig. 1), which belongs to the CSK tectonic line[17]
Summary
Charging of its shallow magma chamber by high-flux batches of deeper melts which historically control small effusive and large explosive eruptions[15]. On July 21, 2012 our research team explored the North Basin using an experimental autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) to survey this area of the crater (Supplementary Fig. S1). In addition to engineering demonstration operations, our deployment objectives included better characterization of the caldera’s subsea regions of activity to aid the Santorini archipelago’s hazard preparedness
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