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Atlantis II Deep
MGDS_FeatureID lowest in hierarchy:
Activity:
Maximum Temperature:
67
Latitude:
21.3417
Longitude:
38.0750
Location on map:
Ocean:
Region:
National Jurisdiction:
Maximum or Single Reported Depth (mbsl):
2200
Tectonic setting:
Full Spreading Rate (mm/a):
14.1
Host Rock:
E-MORB, evaporites, sediments
Deposit Type:
PMS
Notes on Vent Field Description:
intracontinental rift; although assumed active, listed as unconfirmed because not observed visually; Ishibashi and Urabe (1995): "Prior to 1970, the number of known seafloor hydrothermal mineral deposits was only one" [the Atlantis II Deep site described by Miller et al. (1966)]; largest known seafloor massive sulfide deposit; brine pool; Note: Koslow (2007) textbook says that the first evidence for seafloor hydrothermal activity was discovered at 2000-m depth in the Red Sea in the 1880's by the Russian R/V Vityaz; position estimated for sample 334 in SW Basin in Laurila et al. 2015;
Year and How Discovered (if active, visual confirmation is listed first):
1965 "confirmed" hot brine and cored seafloor, but see Table 1 in Miller et al. (1966) for historical measurements
Discovery References (text):
Miller et al. (1966) Hot brines and recent iron deposits in deeps of the Red Sea. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 30: 341-350;
[Degans and Ross (eds.), 1969, Hot Brines and Recent Heavy Metal Deposits in the Red Sea. A Geochemical and Geophysical Account. Springer-Verlag, New York, xii + 600 pp.];
Other References (text):
[Hendricks et al. (1969), Bäcker & Richter (1973), Schoell & Hartmann (1973), Mustafa et al. (1984), Oudin (1987)];
Laurila, T. E., Hannington, M. D., Leybourne, M., Petersen, S., Devey, C. W., and Garbe-Schonberg, D., 2015. New insights into the mineralogy of the Atlantis II Deep metalliferous sediments, Red Sea. Geochemistry,Geophysics, Geosystems, 16 (12): 4449–4478;
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