MESO Zone

Muench et al. (1999): "Products of former hydrothermal activity were sampled in the fourth segment of the Central Indian Ridge", "located and sampled the first massive sulfides in the entire Indian Ocean region", "detailed mapping, ocean bottom photography and sampling revealed that the SF is flanked by two adjacent hydrothermal sites; the hydrothermal region was referred to as ‘MESO zone' after the RV Meteor and RV Sonne. The MESO zone...covers an area of about 0.6 km2, and contains three different sites with evidence of hydrothermalism, the ‘Talus-Tips-Site' (TTS) in the northern, the SF in the central and the ‘Smooth Ground' (SG) in the southern part of the mineralized zone"; Halbach and Halbach (2002): "The Sonne Field appears to be a typical mid-ocean ridge massive sulfide occurrence with black and white smoker mineralizations; it is now, however, in a state of physical and chemical disintegration, and therefore depleted in anhydrite."