Carbon cycling in seafloor and continental peridotite-hosted hydrothermal systems (Invited)

Active seafloor and continental serpentinization systems are abundant on present-day Earth and are of increasing interest because water-rock reactions lead to C-depleted, alkaline, Ca-OH fluids that have important geochemical and biological consequences. The hydration of ultramafic rocks frequently leads to the formation of reduced compounds that can support subsurface chemosynthetic microbial communities, and to the precipitation of carbonate that can potentially sequester large amounts of CO2. Here, we present a review of two carbon geochemical studies of peridotite-hosted hydrothermal systems with the aim to compare carbon cycling in seafloor and present-day, continental serpentinization systems. In both environments carbonate is formed either as veins in the basement rocks, or as diverse chimney-like carbonate structures or travertine deposits on the surface of the exposed ultramafic basement. The studied seafloor peridotite-hosted hydrothermal systems contain decreasing carbonate contents with depth, while at depths >50-100 m of the exposed peridotite organic carbon becomes increasingly important and may be the dominant carbon phase. At these depths, conditions can be favorable for the microbial conversion of CO2 to biogenic carbon, which locally contributes to higher organic carbon contents in the bulk rock. In continental serpentinization systems, extensive interaction with alkaline fluids causes uptake of significant amounts of carbonate in the shallow subsurface of the ultramafic basement, likely supported by the transport of CO2 into the basement, while the signature of the dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) gives evidence for the removal of DIC by microbial activity in the subsurface. Both studies imply that as the Ca-OH fluids either mix with seawater or interact with the atmosphere, large amounts of CO2 are stored within the ultramafic rocks as carbonate minerals are formed. Seawater-exposed ultramafic rocks can thereby reach carbon contents of almost 10 wt.%. Additionally, the geochemical data indicates that microbial activity is present in the subsurface and influences the carbon geochemical signatures of both environments. Overall, these studies demonstrate how hydrothermal alteration of ultramafic rocks impacts the exchange of carbon species between the major reservoirs of the Earth.