TEAM 3:
In-Situ Chemical Sensors for Monitoring the Chemistry of Hydrothermal Vent Fluids at Mid-Ocean Ridges: Instrument Development and Field Applications
PI: William Seyfried and Kang Ding
The scientific objectives of the research team from the University of Minnesota during the cruise to hydrothermal vent sites on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (07-09-08 through 08-15-08), primarily involve deployment and testing of in-situ chemical sensors to measure and monitor the pH and redox chemistry of hydrothermal fluids. In support of chemical sensor studies, however, vent fluid samples and samples of coexisting sulfide mineralization will also be emphasized. Studies of this sort not only further the development of novel seafloor instrumentation, but through these efforts data are obtained relevant to processes controlling heat and mass transfer in deep subseafloor reaction zones from which hydrothermal vent fluids are derived. Ultramafic-hosted hydrothermal systems along slow-spreading oceanic ridges contrast sharply in chemical and physical variability with better-understood basalt-hosted systems, underscoring the need for measurements that will help to constrain the origin and evolution of these geochemically and biologically important systems.
