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Conical Seamount
Name Alias(es):
Vent Sites:
Activity:
Maximum Temperature:
Max Temperature Category:
Latitude:
-3.2500
Longitude:
152.6600
Location on map:
Ocean:
Region:
National Jurisdiction:
Maximum or Single Reported Depth (mbsl):
1050
Minimum Depth (mbsl):
Tectonic setting:
Full Spreading Rate (mm/a):
Host Rock:
NotProvided
Deposit Type:
NotProvided
Notes on Vent Field Description:
Herzig et al. (1998): "Camera surveys…revealed widespread but discontinuous patches of stained sediment, suggesting that low-temperature diffuse hydrothermal vents were formerly active near the summit of the volcano"; note: Nautilus Minerals has tenements at Conical Seamount; submarine volcano in rifted forearc, New Ireland Fore-Arc Basin; Petersen et al. (2005): "Drilling at Conical Seamount significantly extends the known surface extent of the previously discovered vein-style gold mineralization (up to 230 g/t Au) at this site"; Herzig et al. (2003): "Gold-rich polymetallic vein mineralisation occurs in an outer zone of this area while arsenic sulphides together with abundant amorphous silica are found at the margins. More than 1200 kg of mineralized rock were recovered in 1998, consisting of stockworks and disseminated sulphides with gold concentrations locally reaching up to 230 g/t"
Notes Relevant to Biology:
NotProvided
Year and How Discovered (if active, visual confirmation is listed first):
1998 TV grab survey determined inactive
Discovery References (text):
[Herzig, P.M. and M. D. Hannington (1995) Hydrothermal activity, vent fauna, and submarine gold mineralization at alkaline fore-arc seamounts near Lihir Island, Papua New Guinea. Proceedings Pacific Rim Congress 1995, Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, 279-284]
(inactive) Herzig et al. (1998) Petrology, gold mineralization and biological communities at shallow submarine volcanoes of the New Ireland Fore-Arc (Papua New Guinea): Preliminary results of R/V Sonne cruise SO-133. InterRidge News 7(2): 34-38.
Other References (text):
Herzig et al. (2003) Shallow drilling of seafloor hydrothermal systems using R/V Sonne and the BGS Rockdrill: Conical Seamount (New Ireland Fore-Arc) and Pacmanus (Eastern Manus Basin), Papua New Guinea. InterRidge News 12(1): 22-26
[Gemmell et al. (2004) Sulfur Isotope Evidence for Magmatic Contributions to Submarine and Subaerial Gold Mineralization: Conical Seamount and the Ladolam Gold Deposit, Papua New Guinea. Economic Geology 99: 1711-1725, DOI: 10.2113/99.8.1711]
Petersen et al. (2005) Shallow drilling of seafloor hydrothermal systems using the BGS rockdrill: Conical seamount (New Ireland fore-arc) and PACMANUS (Eastern Manus Basin), Papua New Guinea. Marine Georesources and Geotechnology 23: 175-193.
RDF link: