A hydrothermal plume on the Southwest Indian Ridge revealed by a multi-proxy approach: Impact on iron and manganese distributions (GEOTRACES GS02)

Iron (Fe) and manganese (Mn) are crucial micronutrients that limit oceanic primary productivity in the Southern Ocean. It has been recently suggested that hydrothermal activity may be an important source of oceanic dissolved iron, yet, this contribution is still not fully understood and only one active hydrothermal site has been reported on the Southwest Indian Ridge (SWIR), south of 40°S.

Using a multi-proxy approach, this study demonstrates the occurrence of hydrothermal venting on the SWIR in the near vicinity of the location 44°51.690 S, 36°10.460 E, which is likely to be a low or moderately high temperature fluid. Indeed, we report high values of dissolved methane to manganese ratios (up to 11.1 ± 1.2 mol mol⁻¹), low particulate iron (pFe) and manganese (pMn) concentrations (with maximum values of 0.7 nmol L⁻¹ and 0.06 nmol L⁻¹, respectively) associated with the presence of few oxyhydroxides, as well as high ²²³Radium (Ra) and ²²⁴Ra activities near the seafloor. The Fe and Mn data revealed a significant enrichment at depths influenced by hydrothermal circulation on the seafloor, within the Upper Circumpolar Deep Water. Dissolved Fe (dFe) and dissolved Mn (dMn) concentrations were enriched by 3- and 7-fold, respectively, and pFe and pMn by 2- and 1.5-fold, respectively, compared to a reference station located outside the SWIR. They were however lower than concentrations reported so far near high temperature vents, suggesting a weaker influence of this hydrothermal system on deep Fe and Mn reservoirs. We show that a large fraction of the dFe could be stabilized by organic complexation with humic substances (eHS, estimated 27–60% of dFe). High prokaryotic abundance related to the proximity of the hydrothermal vent suggests that other Fe-complexing ligands of biological origin might also stabilize Fe in its dissolved form. Collectively, these measurements integrated within the concept of a “multi-proxy approach”, helped painting a more detailed picture of the complex interactions and processes in this region of the SWIR. Although the system is a source of both dFe and dMn to the deep ocean, the low current velocities and the bathymetry likely limit the fertilization of surface water by dFe and dMn along this section of the SWIR.