Notes on Vent Field Description:
seamount at northern end of Vate Trough, Coriolis (Southern Backarc) Troughs; Iizasa et al. (1998): "In particular, living hydrothermal biological communities as well as positive temperature anomalies were observed in an area of pillow lava and mound-like Fe Si oxyhydroxide deposits on a submarine caldera (94SO1) in the Vate Trough."; nearby but not within tenement application Nautilus Minerals (SRK report 2011); spreading rate not in Bird (2003), therefore used estimate for South New Hebrides Back-Arc Troughs from Pelletier et al. (1998)
Notes Relevant to Biology:
Iizasa et al. (1998): "Living hydrothermal biological communities of gastropods and galatheid crabs occur near the deposits"
Year and How Discovered (if active, visual confirmation is listed first):
1994 towed camera with temperature
Discovery References (text):
[JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency), MMAJ (Metal Mining Agency of Japan), and SOPAC (South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission), 1995, South Pacific seafloor atlas: Japan-SOPAC cooperative study on deep sea mineral resources in the southwest Pacific 1985–1994: JICA Report no. 95-063, 24 p.]
Iizasa et al., 1998, Hydrothermal sulfide-bearing Fe-Si oxyhydroxide deposits from the Coriolis Troughs, Vanuatu backarc, southwestern Pacific: Marine Geology, 145: 1-21.
Other References (text):
McConacchy et al., Geology, 33, 61-64, 2005, New hydrothermal activity and alkalic volcanism in the backarc Coriolis Troughs, Vanuatu.
SRK Consulting (2011) Nautilus Minerals Incorporated NI43-101 Technical Report 2010 PNG, Tonga, Fiji, Solomon Islands, New Zealand, Vanuatu and the ISA. Document Reference: NAT007 Nautilus 43-101 Technical Report 2011 Rev3.docx.
Pelletier, B. et al. (1998) Current tectonics of the Tonga–New Hebrides region. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 164: 263-276.