Hydrothermal Vents in Mid-Ocean Ridges

Lowell Instruments’ sensors were used in deep-sea loggers to study hydrothermal systems at Mid-Ocean Ridges (MOR)s. Dan Fornari from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and Thibaut Barreyre from the University of Bergen-Norway made improvements to WHOI-MISO loggers with the addition of Lowell Instruments’ orientation and temperature sensors in the logger housing for use in their research. The vent fluid and orientation data loggers are manufactured by EP Oceanographic, LLC and can provide vent time-series temperature measurements.  The sensors “determine any correlative motion of the logger with recorded temperature anomalies”, Fornari said, and “provide significant information about whether the temperature perturbations are caused by fluid flow variations or subtle to abrupt motions of the logger due to chimney cracking, collapse, or ground motion”.

The high-temperature loggers have been used by many U.S. and international scientists studying vents globally, including sites at: Axial Seamount and Main Endeavour, Lucky Strike, Lau Basin, and East Pacific Rise 9-10°N.  By studying hydrothermal vent systems at the Mid-Ocean Ridges, Fornari and Barreyre are hoping to gain a better understanding of sub-surface processes including their effects on hydrogeology and shallow circulation patterns of hydrothermal flow in the young ocean crust. Additionally, the data provided by the loggers will be used to study fluid-dynamic interaction and impacts to local ecosystems.

Fornari explained, “Although hydrothermal systems were initially conceptualized as steady-state flow environments, field-based observations indicate that flow rates and temperatures may vary over a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. These observations demonstrate that hydrothermal systems respond to sub-surface processes such as earthquakes, magmatic activity, dissolution/precipitation of hydrothermal minerals, and the poroelastic response to tidal loading.”

For more information about their research and use of loggers:

Oceanography article by Dan Fornari, et al.