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Tynan Pfingst 1, Cindy Lee Van Dover,1 Rachel Haymon 2, Ken Macdonald2, Dawn Wright3
1.Institute of Marine Science, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, AK 99775
2.Department of Geology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106
3.Geology Department, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331
The Southern East Pacific Rise (SEPR) is a superfast spreading center with a large magma budget and high density of hydrothermal sites. The close spacing of vents on the SEPR represents one end-member in a continuum, with the other end-member represented by widely-spaced hydrothermal systems of slow spreading centers such as the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Using the camera sled ARGO, we mapped the distribution of vent communities on a 40-km segment of the SEPR. More than 100 active hydrothermal sites were identified based on observation of high densities of vent-specific organisms. Sites ranged in size from very small (2-4 m maximum dimension) to large (>100 m maximum dimension) and were hosted by basalts of varying ages. Twenty-one sites were selected for detailed mapping and analysis of patterns of distribution of dominant megafauna. This database will be used to prepare a regional-scale account of faunal diversity and will serve as baseline data for return visits by Alvin in 1998 as part of a proposed chronoseres study.
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