Deposit Type:
LTH, Fe oxide, silica, native sulfur deposits
Notes on Vent Field Description:
small nontronite chimneys and hydrothermal crusts, various deposits of cemented volcaniclastic sediments with amorphous Fe oxides, silica, native sulfur, minor pyrite, 39 C; Smithsonian Global Volcanism profile 284135, accessed 28 May 2015: "Active hydrothermal fields are located at the summit, at the base of summit ridges, and on the lower flanks."
Notes Relevant to Biology:
at least three obligate, vent-associated megabenthos species (bythogreid crab, barnacle and tonguefish); new species tonguefish; also tubeworms, bacterial mats
Year and How Discovered (if active, visual confirmation is listed first):
Discovery References (text):
McMurtry et al (1993) Unusual geochemistry of hydrothermal vents on submarine arc volcanoes: Kasuga Seamounts, Northern Mariana Arc. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 114: 517-528.
Other References (text):
Fryer, Geology of the Mariana Trough, in Backarc Basins: Tectonics and Magmatism, 237-279, 1995, ed. B. Taylor, Plenum Press, New York
Fujikura, K et al. (1999) Investigation of the Deep-sea Chemosynthetic Ecosystem and Submarine Volcano at the Kasuga 2 and 3 Seamounts in the Northern Mariana Trough, Western Pacific. JAMSTEC Journal of Deep Sea Research 14: 127-138
Embley, R et al (2004) Explorations of Mariana Arc volcanoes reveal new hydrothermal systems. EOS, Trans. AGU 85(4): 37, 40.