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White Lady
Name Alias(es):
17 S active site
Station 4, Triple Junction
MGDS_FeatureID lowest in hierarchy:
Vent Sites:
Kaiyo
LHOS
Mussel Hill (= MH)
STARMER II
White Lady
Activity:
Maximum Temperature:
291
Latitude:
-16.9833
Longitude:
173.9167
Location on map:
Ocean:
Region:
National Jurisdiction:
Maximum or Single Reported Depth (mbsl):
2000
Minimum Depth (mbsl):
1960
Tectonic setting:
Full Spreading Rate (mm/a):
55.5
Host Rock:
MORB, E-MORB, minor BABB
Deposit Type:
PMS, polymetallic massive sulfides
Notes on Vent Field Description:
on Central Spreading Ridge, 2-km wide axial graben of volcanic high located in the triple junction; small vent sites with active sulfide deposits, part of a complex hydrothermal field approx. 300-m in largest dimension; Fe oxide gossans, low-temperature Fe oxide and silica chimneys, 265-285 C clear fluids, low salinity fluids, phase separation, anhydrite chimneys; Mussel Hill (low-temperature) is only 70-m from White Lady (high-temperature); White Lady and Mussel Hill prospects of Nautilus Minerals; Arculus (2012): hydrocast NLTH-29 in Northeast Fiji Triple Junction (NEFTJ) caldera "detected a plume at ~1920m depth. This is not the site of the “White Lady” vent discovered in the late 1980s by the joint French-Japan STARMER exploration"
Notes Relevant to Biology:
snails, mussels, alvinellid polychaetes, barnacles; see Desbruyeres et al. (1994); see Van Dover et al. (2007)
Year and How Discovered (if active, visual confirmation is listed first):
1988 towed camera and plume; 1989 submersible Nautile
Discovery References (text):
J-M Auzende et al. (1991) In situ geological and geochemical study of an active hydrothermal site on the North Fiji Basin ridge. Marine Geol. 98: 259-269.
Other References (text):
Grimaud et al. (1991) Chemistry of hydrothermal fluids from the 17°S active site on the North Fiji Basin Ridge (SW Pacific). Chemical Geology 93: 209-218
V Bendel et al. (1993) The White Lady hydrothermal field, North Fiji back-arc basin, Southwest Pacific. Econ Geo. 88(8): 2233-2245
Desbruyeres, D. et al. (1994) Deep-sea hydrothermal communities in Southwestern Pacific back-arc basins (the North Fiji and Lau Basins): Composition, microdistribution and food web. Marine Geology 116: 227-242
Tanahashi et al. (1994) 800-km-long N-S spreading system of the North Fiji Basin. Marine Geol. 116: 5-24
Gracia et al. (1994) Multi-scale morphologic variability of the North Fiji Basin ridge (Southwest Pacific). Mar. Geol. 116: 133-151
[Auzende et al., The North Fiji Basin: Geology, structure, and geodynamic evolution, in Backarc Basins: Tectonics and Magmatism, 139-175, 1995]
Halbach et al., InterRidge News 8(1), 38-44, 1999, Diffuse hydrothermal fluid activity, biological communities, and mineral formation in the North Fiji Basin (SW Pacific): Preliminary results of the R/V Sonne cruise SO-134
Koschinsky, A. et al. (2002) Geochemistry of diffuse low-temperature hydrothermal fluids in the North Fiji basin. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 66: 1409-1427
T. Kuhn et al. (2003) Enrichment of Mo in hydrothermal Mn precipitates: possible Mo sources, formation process and phase associations. Chem Geo 199(1-2): 29-43
Van Dover, C.L. et al. (2007) A fungal epizootic in mussels at a deep-sea hydrothermal vent. Marine Ecology 28: 54-62.
Arculus, R. (2012) Voyage Summary SS02/2012, Northern Lau Transit Expedition (NoLauTE). Available at: http://www.cmar.csiro.au/datacentre/process/data_files/cruise_docs/ss2012_v02_summary.pdf, accessed June 2015.
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