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Kolbeinsey Field
Name Alias(es):
KHF
67 N, Kolbeinsey Ridge
Vent Sites:
Activity:
Maximum Temperature:
131
Latitude:
67.0833
Longitude:
-18.7167
Location on map:
Ocean:
Region:
National Jurisdiction:
Maximum or Single Reported Depth (mbsl):
110
Minimum Depth (mbsl):
90
Tectonic setting:
Full Spreading Rate (mm/a):
17.9
Host Rock:
MORB
Deposit Type:
LTH; small deposit of Fe and Mn oxides, barite, amorphous silica, and pyrite
Notes on Vent Field Description:
located on SKR segment on submarine volcano at northern extension of neovolcanic zone; Diving campaigns with the submersibles GEO in 1988 and JAGO in 1997 (Stoffers et al., 1997) discovered active vents on the Kolbeinsey Ridge south of Kolbeinsey Island with temperatures up to 131 °C at 100 to 110 m water depths; [NOTE: incorrectly listed on Jan-Mayen Ridge in Desbruyeres et al. (2006) Handbook.]
Notes Relevant to Biology:
Fricke et al (1989): "Incubation of high temperature fluids yielded cultures of undescribed hyperthermophilic eu- and archaebacteria, growing in a temperature range between 70° and 110°C depending on the isolates. In contrast to deep-sea vent sites of the Mid-Atlantic and other oceans, the Kolbeinsey macro- and meiofauna consists of species reported from non-vent areas in the boreal Atlantic and adjacent polar seas. The most abundant forms are a solitary hydroid polyp and two sponges."; discovery of Nanoarchaeum equitans, an archaeal microorganism containing the world's smallest known genome (Huber, H. et al. 2002).
Year and How Discovered (if active, visual confirmation is listed first):
1988 submersible GEO
Discovery References (text):
Olafsson, J. et al., Initial observation, bathymetry and photography of a geothermal site on the Kolbeinsey Ridge. In: Ayala-Castanares, A. et al., Editors, Oceanography 1988, UNAM Press, Mexico (1989), pp. 121–127
Olafsson et al. EOS, AGU Trans. 71, 1650, 1990, Geochemical observations from a boiling hydrothermal site on the Kolbeinsey Ridge (abs).
Other References (text):
Fricke, H et al (1989) Hydrothermal vent communities at the shallow subpolar Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Mar Biol 102(3): 425-429
Stoffers, P., Shipboard Scientific Party, 1997. Cruise Report of R/V Poseidon 229 Institute of Geosciences, Departments of Geophysics and Geology–Paleontology, University of Kiel, 58 pp.
Botz et al., Earth. Planet. Sci. Lett., 171, 83-93, 1999, Origin of trace gases in submarine hydrothermal vents of the Kolbeinsey Ridge, north Iceland
J Scholten et al., InterRidge News 8(2), 1999, Hydrothermal activity along the Tjoernes Fracture Zone, north of Iceland: Initial results of R/V Poseidon cruises 252 and 253, p. 28-31
Huber, H. et al. (2002). "A new phylum of Archaea represented by a nanosized hyperthermophilic symbiont". Nature 417 (6884): 63–67. doi:10.1038/417063a
KS Lackschewitz et al. (2006) Mineralogy and geochemistry of clay samples from active hydrothermal vents off the north coast of Iceland. Mar Geo 225: 177-190.
RDF link: