Introduction to Atlantic Hydrothermal Activity

Seafloor hydrothermal research has advanced rapidly from local to global scope through a sequence of discoveries. Hydrothermal research at seafloor spreading centers began in the mid‐1960s with the discovery of hot metalliferous brines and sediments ponded in deeps along the slow spreading (half rate 1 cm yr −1 ) axis of the Red Sea [ Chamock , 1964; Miller , 1964; Swallow and Crease , 1965; Miller et al ., 1966; Hunt et al ., 1967; Bischoff , 1969]. At the same time a hydrothermal metalliferous component was identified in sediments of the East Pacific Rise [ Skomyakova , 1965; Arrhenins and Bonatti , 1965; Boström and Peterson , 1966]. Geophysicists recognized that heat flow measurements at spreading centers could only be explained by convective cooling of the crust with circulating seawater [ Elder , 1967; Lister , 1972].