High resolution topography of the Rainbow hydrothermal area, Mid-Atlantic Ridge, 36° 14 N

The Rainbow hydrothermal field at 36° 14 N on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge is one of the few known sites hosted in ultramafic environment. The active site is located on a dome structure in the non-transform offset between the AMAR and South AMAR second-order ridge segments. One of the objectives of Cruise MOMAR DREAM (Aug-Sept 2008, R/V Atalante and ROV Victor) was a near-bottom detailed and exhaustive mapping of the hydrothermal site and its vicinities using the multibeam echosounder Reson SeaBat 7125 (400 Khz) and the high sensitivity photographic camera OTUS installed on ROV Victor. This first high resolution survey of the Rainbow massif has provided bathymetric maps with a resolution of a centimeter in depth and space for the surveys carried out at the altitude of 10 m (close to Site Rainbow), and some ten centimeters for the surveys at 50 m (a larger area, 4x3 km long). The frequency of the pings is 7 cycles by second for 512 beams with an opening of 150° and a speed of the ROV of 0.3-0.4 m/s. The data have been processed with the CARAIBES software of IFREMER. The ROV is positioned with the Posidonia Ultra Short Baseline system (USBL) and an estimated navigation from the loch and heading of the vehicle. The active hydrothermal site extends along an EW direction on about 200 m. It is localized on one important mound, around 20 m in diameter, which displays the highest chimneys like "Thermitiere". Small chimneys are sparse at the east of this mound, and another inactive mound is located 200m in the northeast. The whole hydrothermal area is located just north of a highly fractured domain made of a series of north-south high- angle normal faults making steps at least 40 meters high. This 400 m wide tectonic area extends to the south on about 600-700 m. The faults give access to the stockwork of the hydrothermal system, which has been sampled. North of the hydrothermal area, a 400 m large landslide cut across the serpentinite environment. At a wider scale, the tectonics of the Rainbow Massif is dominated by a N-S trending fault pattern on its western flank, and a series of SW-NE ridges on its northeastern side. These ridges are bordered by a series of normal fault with facing-slopes to the south-east. Smaller NW-SE oriented fractures seem to affect the whole Rainbow massif. In conclusion, the Rainbow massif is highly tectonized by normal faults oriented along three different directions. No evidence of the large low-angle fault system predicted by the core complex model could be observed. Momardream party : K. Bukas, V. Cueff Gauchard, L. Durand, F. Gaill, C. Konn, F. Lartaud, N. Le Bris, G. Musset, A. Nunes, J. Renard, V. Riou, A. Tasiemski, P. Torres, I. Vojdani, M. Zbinden