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Deposition of Metalliferous Sediment Beneath a Brine Pool in the Atlantis II Deep, Red Sea

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Abstract

The Atlantis II Deep in the central Red Sea is the site of formation of a large submarine hydrothermal sulfide deposit. It is the largest deposit discovered to date on the seafloor and the only site given serious consideration for economic exploitation in the near future. The metalliferous deposit in the Atlantis II Deep is very different from other known submarine massive sulfide deposits forming on seafloor spreading centers. The Atlantis II deposit is a thin, but laterally extensive, blanket of interlayered metal sulfide, oxide, and silicate minerals. The Atlantis II deposit is genetically and geochemically similar to the other oceanic ridge crest sulfide deposits in that it forms from a seawater-derived hydrothermal fluid which is modified by high-temperature interaction with oceanic crust. However, the presence of evaporite strata adjacent to the rift and a submarine brine pool in the Atlantis II Deep controls the fluid composition and depositional environment and determines the form of the deposit. The interplay of the hydrotermal system with the depositional environment is one of the critical variables that controls the form, composition, concentration, preservation, and economic potential of submarine exhalative mineral deposits.

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Authors
  1. Robert A. Zierenberg
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries, 910 State Office Building, 97201, Portland, Oregon, USA

    Gregory R. McMurray

  2. Dames & Moore, 1750 SW Harbor Way, Portland, OR, 97201, USA

    Gregory R. McMurray

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Zierenberg, R.A. (1990). Deposition of Metalliferous Sediment Beneath a Brine Pool in the Atlantis II Deep, Red Sea. In: McMurray, G.R. (eds) Gorda Ridge. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-3258-2_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-3258-2_8

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-7937-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4612-3258-2

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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