Survey studies hydrothermal circulation on the Northern Juan de Fuca Ridge

Abstract

The circulation of hydrothermal fluid within upper oceanic crust constrains the global composition of seawater and is also responsible for many of the dynamic chemical and biological processes that alter the underlying volcanic rocks that form the sea floor. The heat of crustal formation drives this fluid circulation, and the impact on the overlying ocean is most easily observed at mid‐ocean ridge spreading centers. Previous efforts to quantify the heat associated with crustal formation have lacked information regarding the partitioning of thermal energy between discrete, high‐temperature vent fields, ubiquitous low‐temperature diffuse venting, and the pervasive conductive heat flux through the volcanic rocks.