High heat flow and ocean acidification at a nascent rift in the northern Gulf of California

Rosa Ma Prol-Ledesma (), Marco-Antonio Torres-Vera, Riccardo Rodolfo-Metalpa, Catalina Ángeles, Carlos H. Lechuga Deveze, Ruth Esther Villanueva-Estrada, Evgueni Shumilin and Carlos Robinson
Additional contact information
Rosa Ma Prol-Ledesma: Instituto de Geofísica, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico, Cd. Universitaria
Marco-Antonio Torres-Vera: Asociación para Evitar la Ceguera en México, Vicente García Torres 46
Riccardo Rodolfo-Metalpa: Marine Institute, Marine Biology and Ecology Research Centre, University of Plymouth
Catalina Ángeles: Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Carlos H. Lechuga Deveze: Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas del Noroeste, S.C. Mar Bermejo 195, Colonia Playa Palo de Santa Rita, 23090 La Paz, B.C.S., Mexico
Ruth Esther Villanueva-Estrada: Instituto de Geofísica, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico, Cd. Universitaria
Evgueni Shumilin: Centro Interdisciplinario de Ciencias Marinas, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Av. IPN s/n Col. Playa Palo de Santa Rita, 23090 La Paz, B.C.S., Mexico
Carlos Robinson: Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Nature Communications, 2013, vol. 4, issue 1, 1-7

Abstract: Abstract The prevailing tectonic setting in the Gulf California suggests the presence of an undetermined number of short spreading centres with associated hydrothermal systems. However, to date, active seafloor spreading phenomena have been documented in only three of the eight tectonically active basins. Here we report heat flow values as high as 15,436 mW m−2 in two of the northernmost basins of the Gulf of California, providing evidence of intense hydrothermal activity associated with the transition from continental rifting to seafloor spreading. The mean heat flow for the Wagner and Consag basins area is 1,875 mW m−2, more than 15 times higher than the mean value for oceanic crust (105.4 mW m−2). Additional evidence for vigorous hydrothermal circulation and a shallow heat source includes intense gas discharge (CO2 and CH4), widespread low pH (average 7.7), locally high 222Rn concentrations in the bottom water and a high extent of organic matter maturation in the sediments.

Date: 2013
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms2390 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:4:y:2013:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms2390

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/ncomms2390

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().