Fossil evidence for serpentinization fluids fueling chemosynthetic assemblages

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 108; no. 19; pp. 7698 - 7703
• Main Authors: Lartaud, Franck, Little, Crispin T.S, de Rafelis, Marc, Bayon, Germain, Dyment, Jerome, Ildefonse, Benoit, Gressier, Vincent, Fouquet, Yves, Gaill, Françoise, Le Bris, Nadine
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States National Academy of Sciences 10.05.2011; National Acad Sciences
• Subjects: Alkalies; Animals; Atlantic Ocean; Biomass; Carbonates; Carbonates - chemistry; Chemical synthesis; Chimneys; clams; Dispersal; Ecosystem; fauna; Fluids; Fossils; Gastropoda; Geologic Sediments - chemistry; Geological Phenomena; Hot Temperature; Hydrothermal vents; Lost cities; Marine; Methane; Mollusks; Mussels; Mytilidae - chemistry; oceans; Physical Sciences; Rocks; Sciences of the Universe; Sea water; Sulfides; Symbiosis; ultramafic rocks; Atlantic Ocean; ANE, Atlantic, Mid-Atlantic Ridge, Lost City; A, Mid-Atlantic Ridge; Bathymodiolus; ecogeochemistry; mid-ocean ridge; Ghost City; ultramafic-hosted
• ISSN: 0027-8424; 1091-6490
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1009383108

Among the deep-sea hydrothermal vent sites discovered in the past 30 years, Lost City on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR) is remarkable both for its alkaline fluids derived from mantle rock serpentinization and the spectacular seafloor carbonate chimneys precipitated from these fluids. Despite high concentrations of reduced chemicals in the fluids, this unique example of a serpentinite-hosted hydrothermal system currently lacks chemosynthetic assemblages dominated by large animals typical of high-temperature vent sites. Here we report abundant specimens of chemosymbiotic mussels, associated with gastropods and chemosymbiotic clams, in approximately 100 kyr old Lost City-like carbonates from the MAR close to the Rainbow site (36 °N). Our finding shows that serpentinization-related fluids, unaffected by high-temperature hydrothermal circulation, can occur on-axis and are able to sustain high-biomass communities. The widespread occurrence of seafloor ultramafic rocks linked to likely long-range dispersion of vent species therefore offers considerably more ecospace for chemosynthetic fauna in the oceans than previously supposed.