TY - JOUR
T1 - Internal Structure of a Seafloor Massive Sulfide Deposit by Electrical Resistivity Tomography, Okinawa Trough
AU - Ishizu, K.
AU - Goto, T.
AU - Ohta, Y.
AU - Kasaya, T.
AU - Iwamoto, H.
AU - Vachiratienchai, C.
AU - Siripunvaraporn, W.
AU - Tsuji, T.
AU - Kumagai, H.
AU - Koike, K.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors thank the captain, crew, and technicians of the YK 14-19 cruise survey. Katsuhiko Suzuki, Tatsuo Nozaki, Saneatsu Saito, Yusuke Kubo, and Ken Takai, JAMSTEC researchers, greatly helped for data and discussion of the drillings in the Iheya North Knoll. This work was supported by the Cross-ministerial Strategic Innovation Promotion Program (SIP) “Next Generation Technology for Ocean Resources Exploration” and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science KAKENHI (Grants 26289347, 18H03894, 18H03733, and 17J08764). We thank Marion Jegen, an anonymous reviewer, and Associate Editor Jeroen Ritsema for their very instructive comments. Some figures were produced with the aid of Generic Mapping Tools (GMT) software (https://www.soest.hawaii.edu/gmt). Data can be requested for scientific use through the website “JAMSTEC Data Site for Research Cruises” with cruise ID YK 14-19, accessed on 31 March 2019.
Funding Information:
The authors thank the captain, crew, and technicians of the YK 14‐19 cruise survey. Katsuhiko Suzuki, Tatsuo Nozaki, Saneatsu Saito, Yusuke Kubo, and Ken Takai, JAMSTEC researchers, greatly helped for data and discussion of the drillings in the Iheya North Knoll. This work was supported by the Cross‐ministerial Strategic Innovation Promotion Program (SIP) “Next Generation Technology for Ocean Resources Exploration” and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science KAKENHI (Grants 26289347, 18H03894, 18H03733, and 17J08764). We thank Marion Jegen, an anonymous reviewer, and Associate Editor Jeroen Ritsema for their very instructive comments. Some figures were produced with the aid of Generic Mapping Tools (GMT) software ( https://www.soest.hawaii.edu/gmt ). Data can be requested for scientific use through the website “JAMSTEC Data Site for Research Cruises” with cruise ID YK 14‐19, accessed on 31 March 2019.
Publisher Copyright:
©2019. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.
PY - 2019/10/28
Y1 - 2019/10/28
N2 - Although seafloor massive sulfide (SMS) deposits are crucially important metal resources that contain high-grade metals such as copper, lead, and zinc, their internal structures and generation mechanisms remain unclear. This study obtained detailed near-seafloor images of electrical resistivity in a hydrothermal field off Okinawa, southwestern Japan, using deep-towed marine electrical resistivity tomography. The image clarified a semi-layered resistivity structure, interpreted as SMS deposits exposed on the seafloor, and another deep-seated SMS layer at about 40-m depth below the seafloor. The images reinforce our inference of a new mechanism of SMS evolution: Upwelling hydrothermal fluid is trapped under less-permeable cap rock. The deeper embedded SMS accumulates there. Then hydrothermal fluids expelled on the seafloor form exposed SMS deposits.
AB - Although seafloor massive sulfide (SMS) deposits are crucially important metal resources that contain high-grade metals such as copper, lead, and zinc, their internal structures and generation mechanisms remain unclear. This study obtained detailed near-seafloor images of electrical resistivity in a hydrothermal field off Okinawa, southwestern Japan, using deep-towed marine electrical resistivity tomography. The image clarified a semi-layered resistivity structure, interpreted as SMS deposits exposed on the seafloor, and another deep-seated SMS layer at about 40-m depth below the seafloor. The images reinforce our inference of a new mechanism of SMS evolution: Upwelling hydrothermal fluid is trapped under less-permeable cap rock. The deeper embedded SMS accumulates there. Then hydrothermal fluids expelled on the seafloor form exposed SMS deposits.
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U2 - 10.1029/2019GL083749
DO - 10.1029/2019GL083749
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85074540983
VL - 46
SP - 11025
EP - 11034
JO - Geophysical Research Letters
JF - Geophysical Research Letters
SN - 0094-8276
IS - 20
ER -