Abstract
HYDROTHERMAL plumes formed by entrainment of ambient sea water into buoyant high-temperature vent fluids, are important features of ocean-ridge hydrothermal systems1,2. An understanding of the mixing processes in plumes is essential for evaluating their role in modifying the chemical impact of hydrothermal activity on sea water and for calculating the heat and chemical budgets of ocean ridges. Central to all plume models is the rate-of-entrain-ment function which is used to determine the volume of water entrained by the buoyant plume at different depths3–5. In the Pacific salinity can be used as a tracer of entrainment6 to a limited extent, but in the Atlantic Median Valley salinity does not vary appreciably near the sea bed. Here we show that aluminium can be used as a sensitive tracer as it varies markedly with depth in the immediate vicinity of hydrothermal vents and the aluminium signal from vent fluids is small, so that the aluminium entrainment signal is not masked.
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Lunel, T., Rudnicki, M., Elderfield, H. et al. Aluminium as a depth-sensitive tracer of entrainment in submarine hydrothermal plumes. Nature 344, 137–139 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1038/344137a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/344137a0
