High-resolution multibeam bathymetry of the northern Mid-Atlantic Ridge at 45–46° N: the Moytirra hydrothermal field

• Main Authors: Luis Somoza, Teresa Medialdea, Francisco J. González, Sara Machancoses, Jose A. Candón, Constantino Cid, António Calado, Andreia Afonso, Luisa Pinto Ribeiro, Iker Blasco, Mónica Albuquerque, María Asensio-Ramos, Renato Bettencourt, Cristina De Ignacio, Enrique López-Pamo, Bruno Ramos, Blanca Rincón-Tomás, Esther Santofimia, Miguel Souto, Inês Tojeira, Cláudia Viegas, Pedro Madureira
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2021-12-01
• Series: Journal of Maps
• Subjects: multibeam bathymetry; mid-atlantic ridge; moytirra; hydrothermal vents; seafloor massive sulfides
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17445647.2021.1898485

This work presents a new high-resolution multibeam bathymetric map of a segment of active deep sea-floor spreading in the Atlantic Ocean, the northern Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR) at 45–46º N. New high-resolution bathymetry data were acquired using an Atlas multibeam echosounder onboard the research vessel Sarmiento de Gamboa during the EXPLOSEA-2 survey in 2019. The final map of the MAR (50 m cell grid size) at the original scale of 1:200,000 shows a segment of 140 × 35 km of the MAR, at water depths from 715 to 3700 m. This new high-resolution bathymetric map allows to better defining the submarine morphology of the Moytirra hydrothermal active field, the only high-temperature field identified between the Azores Archipelago (Portugal) and Iceland. ROV submarine observations reaching the deepest part of the system for the first time show giant anhydrite-sulfide chimneys up to 20 m high, active strong black smokers and polymetallic massive sulfides.