Articles | Volume 13, issue 15
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-4491-2016
© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-4491-2016
© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Research article
| 
11 Aug 2016
Research article |
| 11 Aug 2016
Massive asphalt deposits, oil seepage, and gas venting support abundant chemosynthetic communities at the Campeche Knolls, southern Gulf of Mexico
Department of Geosciences at the University of Bremen, Klagenfurter
Str., 28359 Bremen, Germany
MARUM Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, Leobener Str., 28359
Bremen, Germany
Christian Borowski
MARUM Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, Leobener Str., 28359
Bremen, Germany
Max-Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Celsiusstr. 1, 28359
Bremen, Germany
Elva Escobar-Briones
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Instituto de Ciencias
del Mar y Limnología, A. P. 70-305 Ciudad Universitaria, 04510 Mexico
City, México
Adriana Gaytán-Caballero
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Instituto de Ciencias
del Mar y Limnología, A. P. 70-305 Ciudad Universitaria, 04510 Mexico
City, México
Chieh-Wei Hsu
Department of Geosciences at the University of Bremen, Klagenfurter
Str., 28359 Bremen, Germany
Markus Loher
MARUM Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, Leobener Str., 28359
Bremen, Germany
Ian MacDonald
Florida State University, P.O. Box 3064326, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA
Yann Marcon
Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholz Centre for Polar and Marine
Research, HGF-MPG Group for Deep Sea Ecology and Technology, Am Handelshafen
12, 27570 Bremerhaven, Germany
Thomas Pape
Department of Geosciences at the University of Bremen, Klagenfurter
Str., 28359 Bremen, Germany
MARUM Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, Leobener Str., 28359
Bremen, Germany
Miriam Römer
Department of Geosciences at the University of Bremen, Klagenfurter
Str., 28359 Bremen, Germany
MARUM Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, Leobener Str., 28359
Bremen, Germany
Maxim Rubin-Blum
Max-Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Celsiusstr. 1, 28359
Bremen, Germany
Florence Schubotz
MARUM Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, Leobener Str., 28359
Bremen, Germany
Daniel Smrzka
Center for Earth Sciences, University of Vienna, Althanstr. 14, 1090
Vienna, Austria
Gunter Wegener
MARUM Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, Leobener Str., 28359
Bremen, Germany
Max-Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Celsiusstr. 1, 28359
Bremen, Germany
Gerhard Bohrmann
Department of Geosciences at the University of Bremen, Klagenfurter
Str., 28359 Bremen, Germany
MARUM Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, Leobener Str., 28359
Bremen, Germany
Data sets
Seafloor images along 9 ROV profiles H. Sahling and G. Bohrmann https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.860373
Short summary
We were excited about nature’s diversity when we discovered spectacular flows of heavy oil at the seafloor with the remotely operated vehicle QUEST 4000 m in Campeche Bay, southern Gulf of Mexico. Vigorous methane gas bubble emissions lead to massive gas hydrate deposits at water depth as deep as 3420 m. The hydrates formed metre-sized mounds at the seafloor that were densely overgrown by vestimentiferan tubeworms and other seep-typical organisms.
We were excited about nature’s diversity when we discovered spectacular flows of heavy oil at...
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