Biological communities at vent sites along the subduction zone off Oregon
摘要：
An abundant deep-sea benthic community, dominated by the vestimentiferantube worm, Lamellibrachia barhami, a giant white clam, Calyptogena sp., anda second clam, Solemya sp., was discovered along the northeast Pacific continentalmargin during dives of DSRV Alvin off Oregon. The localities are tectonically controlledand occur along submarine ridges that result from sediment deformation andaccretion at the leading edge of plate subduction. Ancient sea-water buried with thesediment, dissolved methane and ammonia, and methane-derived carbonate are dischargedto the ocean floor along this tectonically active margin. We hypothesize thatthe unusual benthic community is sustained by a chemosynthetic-energy metabolismbased on the oxidation of methane by free living and symbiotic microbial populations.These organisms represent another significant adaptation of deep-sea biota to a sitewhere the abundanc of food (in this case not directly related to particulate inputfrom the sea surface but to tectonically generated methane), allows higher than normallevels of productivity and metabolism, despite the high pressures and low temperatureof the deep-sea habitat. It is tempting to relate the global distribution of such faunasto chemosynthetic food sources generated by tectonic forces.
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1985
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