High-resolution multibeam bathymetry of the northern Mid-Atlantic Ridge at 45–46° N: the Moytirra hydrothermal field

• Main Authors: Luis Somoza (9600062), Teresa Medialdea (9600065), Francisco J. González (9600068), Sara Machancoses (9600092), Jose A. Candón (9600083), Constantino Cid (9600086), António Calado (770506), Andreia Afonso (242106), Luisa Pinto Ribeiro (9600098), Iker Blasco (9600080), Mónica Albuquerque (9600071), María Asensio-Ramos (9600074), Renato Bettencourt (9600077), Cristina De Ignacio (9600089), Enrique López-Pamo (427001), Bruno Ramos (9600095), Blanca Rincón-Tomás (9600101), Esther Santofimia (426999), Miguel Souto (770505), Inês Tojeira (556809), Cláudia Viegas (9600104), Pedro Madureira (186919)
• Format: Other Non-Article Part of Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2021
• Subjects: Biophysics; Ecology; Cancer; Inorganic Chemistry; Environmental Sciences not elsewhere classified; Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified; Physical Sciences not elsewhere classified; Multibeam bathymetry; Mid-Atlantic Ridge; Moytirra; hydrothermal vents; seafloor massive sulfides; Sarmiento; Iceland
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.14226627.v1

This work presents a new high-resolution multibeam bathymetric map of a segment of active deep sea-floor spreading in the Atlantic Ocean, the northern Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR) at 45–46º N. New high-resolution bathymetry data were acquired using an Atlas multibeam echosounder onboard the research vessel Sarmiento de Gamboa during the EXPLOSEA-2 survey in 2019. The final map of the MAR (50 m cell grid size) at the original scale of 1:200,000 shows a segment of 140 × 35 km of the MAR, at water depths from 715 to 3700 m. This new high-resolution bathymetric map allows to better defining the submarine morphology of the Moytirra hydrothermal active field, the only high-temperature field identified between the Azores Archipelago (Portugal) and Iceland. ROV submarine observations reaching the deepest part of the system for the first time show giant anhydrite-sulfide chimneys up to 20 m high, active strong black smokers and polymetallic massive sulfides.