Kemp Caldera

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Coordinates: 59°42′S 28°15′W / 59.700°S 28.250°W / -59.700; -28.250[1]
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Kemp Caldera
Map
Summit depth80
Location
Coordinates59°42′S 28°15′W / 59.700°S 28.250°W / -59.700; -28.250[1]
History
Discovery date2009
First visit2009

Kemp Caldera

seafloor mapping
in 2009, are part of the South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Marine Protected Area.

Geography and geomorphology

Kemp Caldera lies at the southern end of the

bathymetric mapping operations carried out by the RRS James Clark Ross.[5][6] Further sampling efforts took place in 2010 and 2011.[7] Another caldera, Adventure Caldera, lies east of Kemp Seamount;[8] together with several other seamounts the calderas form the Vysokaya Bank.[9] The Nelson Seamounts[9] lie farther south.[10]

The volcano consists of two submarine edifices: the Kemp Caldera proper to the west and Kemp Seamount to the east.

mass failures such as slide blocks and debris flow chutes occur both in and outside of the caldera.[5] Basaltic rocks, sediments,[14] sulfur and volcanic ash cover the surrounding seafloor.[4]

Geology

Volcanoes in

East Scotia Ridge.[15]

backarc region.[18]

Geochemistry and activity

Kemp Caldera has erupted low-

tholeiite and basaltic andesite,[11][4] and the geochemistry of volcanic rocks at Kemp Seamount is consistent with volcanic arc magma.[19] Kemp Seamount has not had its summit torn down by icebergs through seabed gouging, implying that it is relatively young.[11] The fresh appearance of the submarine volcanic features at Kemp Caldera, including the lack of sediments filling the caldera, indicate that it was recently active.[5]

white smokers.[5] Three vent zones have been named: "Great Wall" and "Toxic Castle" around the resurgent cone, "Beehive Chimney" on the inner slopes of the caldera[18] and "Devil's Horn" at the north-northwestern caldera rim.[20] Hydrothermal vents form both diffuse venting areas[21] and discrete chimneys,[14] and have deposited anhydrite, baryte, copper sulfides and elemental sulfur.[22] Liquid sulfur has been observed[23] and forms sulfur droplets.[24] Temperatures of 103–202 °C (217–396 °F) have been measured at the white smokers.[25] Water temperatures at Kemp Caldera reach 1 °C (34 °F) while sediments are warmed by volcanic activity to 5 °C (41 °F).[26]

Ecology

Images of a limpet found at Kemp Caldera

chemosynthetic communities.[27] Sponges grow on the periphery of the vent areas.[2] "Dead zones" - accumulations of animal carcasses, which have also been found at other submarine hydrothermal systems on Earth - are found in the area.[25] Most of the bacteria found at the caldera belong to the class gammaproteobacteria.[28]

Numerous marine animals have been identified at vent sites, such as

bivalve species Spinaxinus caldarium and Parathyasira dearborni were first identified at Kemp Caldera,[7] as were two "bone-eating worm" species, Osedax crouchi and Osedax rogersi.[31]

Whale falls have been found in the surrounding area and support their own biological communities; in total about nine unique ecological communities have been identified in and around Kemp Caldera.[29] The occurrence of limpets at both hydrothermal vents and whale falls in the Kemp Caldera area has been used as evidence that whale falls may be a stepping stone for species to propagate to submarine hydrothermal vents.[34]

Conservation

Kemp Caldera lies within the South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Marine Protected Area.

Longline fishing is restricted and bottom trawling is outright prohibited.[15] As of 2019 further legislation protecting the environment from mining and hydrocarbon exploration was being developed.[35]

Notes

  1. ^ Also known as McIntosh Caldera[2]
  2. ^ Such as Amphioplus sp., Ophiura antarctica and Ophiura irrorata[6]
  3. siboglinids[7] such as the "bone-eating worms" Osedax[31]
  4. East Scotia Ridge[33]

References

  1. ^ a b c Linse et al. 2019, p. 4.
  2. ^ a b IRVD, p. 1.
  3. ^ Arndt 2011, p. 1779.
  4. ^ a b c Cole et al. 2014, p. 23.
  5. ^ a b c d Linse et al. 2019, p. 6.
  6. ^ a b Boschen, Tyler & Copley 2013, p. 28.
  7. ^ a b c Oliver & Rodrigues 2017, p. 267.
  8. ^ Bohrmann 2019, Fig 1.
  9. ^ a b Leat et al. 2013, p. 70.
  10. ^ Leat et al. 2004, p. 19.
  11. ^ a b c Leat et al. 2004, p. 23.
  12. ^ Kürzinger et al. 2023, p. 5.
  13. ^ Leat et al. 2013, p. 74.
  14. ^ a b c Linse et al. 2019, p. 7.
  15. ^ a b c Linse et al. 2019, p. 2.
  16. ^ Barry et al. 2006, p. 224.
  17. ^ Kürzinger et al. 2023, p. 2.
  18. ^ a b Kürzinger et al. 2022, p. 4.
  19. ^ Barry et al. 2006, p. 235.
  20. ^ Kürzinger et al. 2023, p. 11.
  21. ^ a b Linse et al. 2019, p. 9.
  22. ^ Kürzinger et al. 2022, p. 7.
  23. ^ Bohrmann 2019, p. 1.
  24. ^ Kürzinger et al. 2022, p. 8.
  25. ^ a b Linse et al. 2019, p. 18.
  26. ^ a b Bohrmann 2019, p. 2.
  27. ^ Linse et al. 2019, p. 22.
  28. ^ Linse et al. 2019, p. 16.
  29. ^ a b c Linse et al. 2019, pp. 7–9.
  30. ^ Chen & Linse 2020, p. 355.
  31. ^ a b Amon et al. 2014, p. 405.
  32. ^ a b Linse, Bohrmann & Sigwart 2019, p. 2937.
  33. ^ Nye, Copley & Linse 2013, p. 145.
  34. ^ Chen & Linse 2020, p. 354.
  35. ^ Linse et al. 2019, p. 3.

Sources

External links

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