Hydrothermal Systems on Kermadec Arc Volcanoes Revealed by PISCES V Submersible Dives

An interdisciplinary team of scientists from New Zealand and the United States conducted seventeen dives with the PISCES V at eight Kermadec arc volcanoes (seven were the first exploration) in April and May of 2005. The dive sites were selected based on the results of water column and multibeam surveys conducted by the New Zealand research vessel Tangaroa between 1999 and 2004. Five of the sites (Monowai, Macauley, "W", Brothers and Healy) were in calderas or on young cones within calderas. Two sites were on the summits of stratovolcanoes (Rumble V and Clark) without calderas and one site was in a summit crater (Giggenbach). A planned dive site on Monowai Cone was cancelled due to safety concerns based on its history of recent volcanic activity from hydroacoustic monitoring, mass-wasting and surface observations of sulfur slicks and CO2 bubble columns made in the October 2004. Hydrothermal systems were found at all of the sites but they differed in the style of venting. Three factors appear to determine the character of venting on the Kermadec Arc volcanoes. First, depth exerts important boundary conditions on the style of venting because of its control of the boiling point of seawater. The sites range in depth from less than 100 m (Giggenbach) to 1800 m (Brothers caldera wall). At the shallowest depths, degassing and boiling were observed (Giggenbach Volcano at 180 m) commonly accompanied by the precipitation of elemental sulfur (340 m at the bottom of the summit crater at Macauley Cone). At greater depths such as the northwest wall of Brother's volcano, higher temperature vent fluids alter near-surface country rock and have precipitated massive sulfides on the seafloor. Second, some of the volcanoes (Monowai, Brothers and Macauley cones and Giggenbach crater) have likely had recent magmatic/eruptive activity which could result in the enhanced degassing. Finally, outcrop-scale fracturing that mimics larger-scale regional tectonic lineaments appears to focus the venting on many of the volcanoes. Extensive chemosynthetic-based faunal communities were found at all the sites except for Healy (which is dominated by diffuse venting of iron-rich fluids). There was considerable variation in the biota at the separate sites. Mussels of several species were generally dominant and often formed extensive sheets which were associated with high densities of crabs or seastars. Stalked barnacles and shrimps were also common at several sites. Tubeworms were rarely encountered in any quantity. The fauna appears to differ from that further north in the Lau Basin.