Sensitivity of mid-ocean ridge hydrothermal system controlled by the detachment fault to the glacial cycle

Hydrothermal activity in the mid-ocean ridge facilitates the chemical exchange of seawater with new oceanic crusts. This activity mostly occurs on the detachment fault of the asymmetric accretion segment in the slow-ultraslow spreading ridge, which is characterised by limited magma supply. Deep faults can readily extract heat from deeper heat sources. Moreover, the repeated movement of faults activates the permeable fluid channels of the overlying oceanic crust, thus driving long-life hydrothermal circulation. Recent studies have found that the response time of the hydrothermal activity of the intermediate-fast spreading ridges differs from that of the slow-spreading ridge to the glacial cycle, and a unified model is expected to explain it. Also, the response of hydrothermal activity to the glacial cycle must consider the differences between oceanic ridges with different spreading rates and types of hydrothermal systems.

Here, based on two sediment cores collected near the Yuhuang hydrothermal field (HF)on ultraslow-spreading Southwest Indian ridge, we obtained high-resolution sediment history records spanning three glacial periods, understood the 160 ka history of hydrothermal, volcanic and tectonic activities in the region and attempted to reveal the response mechanism of hydrothermal activities controlled by detachment faults to the glacial cycle. We discovered that in the Yuhuang HF controlled by detachment faults, hydrothermal activity increased significantly during the glacial period, and more active detachment fault activity appeared at the same time. At the end of the glacial period, both activities are reduced at the same time. We believe that in the slow-ultraslow spreading ridge, the magmatism regulated by sea level changes may regulate the evolution of detachment faults and the hydrothermal circulation, which are recorded in the sediments near the hydrothermal field.

We established a response model of Sea level change–Magmatism–Detachment fault activity–Hydrothermal activity and concluded that the magmatism of slow-ultraslow spreading ridges is more sensitive to sea level changes; with the synchronous effect of detachment faults, the hydrothermal activity responds faster to the glacial cycle.