Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Note on the accompanying website
- List of maps on the accompanying website
- List of contributed presentations on the accompanying website
- 1 Introduction to seabed fluid flow
- 2 Pockmarks, shallow gas, and seeps: an initial appraisal
- 3 Seabed fluid flow around the world
- 4 The contexts of seabed fluid flow
- 5 The nature and origins of flowing fluids
- 6 Shallow gas and gas hydrates
- 7 Migration and seabed features
- 8 Seabed fluid flow and biology
- 9 Seabed fluid flow and mineral precipitation
- 10 Impacts on the hydrosphere and atmosphere
- 11 Implications for man
- References
- Index
9 - Seabed fluid flow and mineral precipitation
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 October 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Note on the accompanying website
- List of maps on the accompanying website
- List of contributed presentations on the accompanying website
- 1 Introduction to seabed fluid flow
- 2 Pockmarks, shallow gas, and seeps: an initial appraisal
- 3 Seabed fluid flow around the world
- 4 The contexts of seabed fluid flow
- 5 The nature and origins of flowing fluids
- 6 Shallow gas and gas hydrates
- 7 Migration and seabed features
- 8 Seabed fluid flow and biology
- 9 Seabed fluid flow and mineral precipitation
- 10 Impacts on the hydrosphere and atmosphere
- 11 Implications for man
- References
- Index
Summary
A major realization at this ‘meeting of minds’ was that many carbonate mounds, bioherms or reefs described in geological literature were in fact the product of chemosynthesis. Similarly, biologists became aware that chemosynthesis was deeply rooted in the geological past and may be traceable as far back as the origin of life itself.
Beauchamp and von Bitter, 1992Mineral precipitation occurs at the seabed in two circumstances in association with seabed fluid flow: microbial utilisation of fluids, and in response to changes in physical and chemical conditions. This chapter starts with an investigation of the nature and origin of methane-derived authigenic carbonate (MDAC). This leads to a discussion of the influences of fluid flow on the formation of other types of marine carbonate including those associated with biological activity, such as stromatolites and deep-water coral reefs. Non-carbonate minerals are formed as a result of precipitation and fluid-flow processes. We discuss the metalliferous deposits formed by hydrothermal activity at ocean-spreading centres, and by cool-water submarine seepage. Finally there is a discussion of the possible modes of formation of ferromanganese nodules, including the hypothesis that they were formed as a result of seabed fluid flow.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Seabed Fluid FlowThe Impact on Geology, Biology and the Marine Environment, pp. 290 - 322Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2007
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