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Workshops and Conferences
The metal potential of a slow-spreading ridge segment
GEOMAR, Kiel, Germany, 19-20 April 2012
Convenor: Sven Petersen; Report by John Jamieson, Univ. of Ottawa, Canada
This workshop, hosted by GEOMAR, brought together scientists
with backgrounds in geology, geophysics, modeling and engineering,
but who all had an interest in hydrothermal mineralisation processes
at slow-spreading ridges. Thirty-three participants from 8 countries
attended the workshop. The goal of the workshop was to develop
a framework for an integrated study of the metal content of a slowspreading
ridge segment with a multi-disciplinary approach that
combines geological and geophysical studies and uses the latest
technological advances in marine surveying.
The proposed study relies on the use of multiple surveying
platforms and techniques, including rock sample and fluid collection,
visual reconnaissance, ship and AUV-based high-resolution
mapping, and geophysical surveys along and across the spreading
axis. The goal is to produce various high-resolution geological and
geophysical surveys of an entire ridge segment in order to calculate
the full metal budget of a ridge segment and its variability with time.
The integration of these various sources of information will be used
to constrain the proportion of metals transported to the seafloor
by hydrothermal fluids along the length of a ridge that are either
deposited as massive sulfides, or dispersed over a wider area by the
hydrothermal plume, or dissolved back into seawater. The area
chosen for this study is the TAG segment on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge
that hosts known active and inactive hydrothermal systems.
MarVeL Workshop catalyzes new international collaborations for
studies of connectivity between deep-sea vents
Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, 10-11 May 2012
Convenors: Stace Beaulieu, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543 USA (stace@whoi.edu)
Satoshi Mitarai, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, Onna, Okinawa 904-0495 JAPAN (satoshi@oist.jp)
Hiromi Watanabe, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Yokosuka, Kanagawa 237-0061 JAPAN (hwatanabe@jamstec.go.jp)
Despite three decades of research on deep-sea hydrothermal vents,
larval dispersal and population connectivity between these discrete
and extreme habitats remain poorly understood. Connectivity, which
occurs on time scales of one to several generations, is what
ultimately drives the biogeography of the species endemic to
hydrothermal vents. Understanding connectivity between vents
requires expertise from multiple disciplines, including biology,
physical oceanography and the geo-sciences. The Mariana Vent
Larvae (MarVeL) Workshop: International Study of
Connectivity Between Hydrothermal Vents was held 10-11 May
2012 in Okinawa, Japan, at the Okinawa Institute of Science and
Technology (OIST) (http://marvelworkshop.whoi.edu). The
workshop was convened by Stace Beaulieu (WHOI), Satoshi Mitarai
(OIST) and Hiromi Watanabe (JAMSTEC) and funded by the U.S.
National Science Foundation (NSF Grant #1157556) and OIST.
Two main objectives of the workshop were to: 1) Share state-ofthe-art
methods and data for studies of larval dispersal and
population connectivity of deep-sea vent fauna in regions currently
being investigated by U.S., Japanese and other PIs, and 2) Develop
a coordinated research plan to study connectivity between
hydrothermal vents in the western Pacific, specifically considering
the Mariana arc and back-arc.
Workshop participants were recruited by the conveners, with the
aim to balance disciplinary interests and nationalities, and special
consideration was given to early career researchers including
postdocs and students. The workshop had a total of 35 participants
(18 Japan, 14 U.S., 2 Canada, 1 France) and an additional 5
participants via EVO web conferencing (2 U.S., 1 Japan, 1 France, 1
Korea). This total of 40 participants included 13 postdocs and
students who received training and guidance for effective
collaboration with researchers from diverse backgrounds (Fig.1).
One of the postdocs, S. Arellano, said, “It was really valuable to
meet the many other researchers from around the U.S., France,
Canada and Japan. The small workshop setting gave me a chance to
talk to many researchers in a way that I wouldn’t be able to if we
INTERRIDGE NEWS 57 VOL.21, 2012