Georgieva, MN, Paull, CK, Little, CT orcid.org/0000-0002-1917-4460 et al. (7 more authors) (2019) Discovery of an extensive deep-sea fossil serpulid reef associated with a cold seep, Santa Monica Basin, California. Frontiers in Marine Science, 6. 115. ISSN 2296-7745
Abstract
Multibeam bathymetric mapping of the Santa Monica Basin in the eastern Pacific has revealed the existence of a number of elevated bathymetric features, or mounds, harboring cold seep communities. During 2013-2014, mounds at ~600 m water depth were observed for the first time and sampled by Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute’s ROV Doc Ricketts. Active cold seeps were found, but surprisingly one of these mounds was characterized by massive deposits composed of fossil serpulid worm tubes (Annelida: Serpulidae) exhibiting various states of mineralization by authigenic carbonate. No living serpulids with equivalent tube morphologies were found at the site; hence the mound was termed ‘Fossil Hill’. In the present study, the identity of the fossil serpulids and associated fossil community, the ages of fossils and authigenic carbonates, the formation of the fossil serpulid aggregation, and the geological structure of the mound are explored. Results indicate that the tubes were most likely made by a deep-sea serpulid lineage, with radiocarbon dating suggesting that they have a very recent origin during the Late Pleistocene, specifically to the Last Glacial Maximum ~20,000 years ago. Additional U-Th analyses of authigenic carbonates mostly corroborate the radiocarbon dates, and also indicate that seepage was occurring while the tubes were being formed. We also document similar, older deposits along the approximate trajectory of the San Pedro Basin Fault. We suggest that the serpulid tube facies formed in situ, and that the vast aggregation of these tubes at Fossil Hill is likely due to a combination of optimal physical environmental conditions and chemosynthetic production, which may have been particularly intense as a result of sea-level lowstand during the Last Glacial Maximum.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | (c) 2019 Georgieva, Paull, Little, McGann, Sahy, Condon, Lundsten, Pewsey, Caress and Vrijenhoek. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. |
Keywords: | Tubeworm, Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), gas hydrate, Vesicomyidae, Annelida, paleobiology, Eastern Pacific, methane seep |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Earth and Environment (Leeds) > Earth Surface Science Institute (ESSI) (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number NERC NE/R000670/1 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 28 Feb 2019 12:06 |
Last Modified: | 19 Mar 2019 14:10 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Frontiers Media |
Identification Number: | 10.3389/fmars.2019.00115 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:143080 |