Optical signatures of dissolved organic matter from the Endeavour and Axial vent fields

Recent studies have revealed that hydrothermal systems in the deep ocean are both sources and processors of dissolved organic matter (DOM). Sub-floor stores of fossil organic carbon may be exported to the deep ocean directly adding fossil C to the deep ocean dissolved organic carbon (DOC) pool and altering its apparent age. Fossil methane and carbon dioxide are also exported from vents. These C sources can then be utilized by chemotrophs and later enter the DOM pool as fossil DOC. Finally, when deep ocean waters are entrained into vent systems, the resultant heating may alter the chemical and optical properties of the DOM in these deep ocean waters. Dissolved organic matter (DOM) samples were collected from vents ranging in temperature from 10 to over 300 degrees centigrade across the Endeavour and Axial fields along the Juan de Fuca ridge. Elevated DOC and protein-like fluorescence reveal the vents to fuel the chemotrophic production of organic matter either in the adjacent water column or local sediments. High DOC and increased humic-like fluorescence in the hottest vent fluids, suggests the thermal degradation of DOM either from buried fossil sources or the entrainment of local waters enriched in DOC due to chemotrophic productivity. Natural and radio-carbon analyses are underway and will provide further insight into the ultimate source of this colored, fluorescent hydrothermal DOM.