Mineralogy and Acid-Extractable Geochemistry from the Loki's Castle Hydrothermal Field, Norwegian Sea at 74 degrees N (South Knipovich Ridge)

The Loki’s Castle hydrothermal vent field was discovered in the summer of 2008 during a cruise led by the Centre of Geobiology of the University of Bergen, integrated in the H2Deep Project (Eurocores, ESF; see Pedersen et al., 2010, AGU Fall Meeting, Session OS26). Fresh volcanic glasses analyzed by EPMA are basalts. The vent site is composed of several active, over 10 m tall chimneys, producing up to 320 C fluid, at the top of a very large sulfide mound (estimated diameter 200 m). Mineralogy: The main sulfide assemblage in chimneys consists of sphalerite (Sp), pyrite (Py) and pyrrhotite, with lesser chalcopyrite (Ccp). Sulphide-poor selected samples collected at the base of chimneys are mostly composed of anhydrite (Anh), gypsum and talc (Tlc). Association of quartz, anhydrite, gypsum and barite were also found in some of the samples. The sulphide-poor samples from the base of the chimneys denote seawater interaction with the hydrothermal fluid and consequent decrease in temperature, precipitating sulfates. Sphalerite compositions are Zn(0.61-0.70)Fe(0.39-0.30)S. The variations in Fe content are consistent with those of hot, reduced hydrothermal fluids. The observed sulfide assemblage is consistent with the temperature of 320C measured in Loki’s Castle vents. Compositional zonation in sphalerites suggests different pulses of activity of the hydrothermal system, with higher contents of Zn in the center of the crystals. Geochemistry: Here we report preliminary data part of a major analytical task of sequential extraction of metals from sediments in the vicinity of Loki’s Castle, in an attempt to detect correlations with microbial populations and/or subseafloor mineralized intervals. The abundances of Cu, Pb, Ni, Cr, Zn, Fe, Mn and Co in sediments were determined by aqua regia extraction on subsamples from 7 gravity cores. Several anomalous intervals were sampled, in which Cu<707ppm, Ni shows many weak peaks (<50ppm), Cr shows 6 peaks (<121ppm), Zn shows 4 well-defined peaks (<234ppm). Fe varies up to ~9% and Mn, not surprisingly, is enriched in the upper few centimeters of each core. Co shows hardly any peaks. The various metals show variable degrees of intercorrelation. Cores GC6 and GC7, both located ~25 km to the SW of Loki’s Castle, contain the most anomalous intervals. Some intervals contain clusters of anomalous values of most analyzed metals, in others the anomalies are scattered vertically through both cores. The variations in metal contents along the GC6 and GC7 cores indicate oscillation in hydrothermal activity during sediment formation, suggesting different pulses of activity of the hydrothermal field. These two cores also reveal an enrichment in Mn in the upper layers, which could indicate either oxyhydroxide precipitation directly under the seafloor, due to the gradual mixing of the hydrothermal plumes with seawater (cooler and more oxidizing). Collectively, these data suggest both layered and cross-cutting metal-enriched intervals. The latter may correspond to hydrothermal upflow of mineralized solutions through the sediments.