Biogenic Origin of Fe-Mn Crusts from Hydrothermal Fields of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, Puy de Folles Volcano Region

Elena Sergienko ^{1, 2, 3}

E. R. Tarakhovskaya ^{1, 3, 4}

Oleg V Rodinkov ^{1, 3}

Anatoly Opekunov ^{1, 3}

Dmitrii V Pankin ^{1, 3}

Valery S Kozlov ⁵

Kamil Gareev ^{2, 6}

Alexander N Bugrov ⁷

Petr Kharitonskii ²

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Department of Earth Physics, Saint Petersburg State University, 199034 Saint Petersburg, Russia |

Ioffe Institute, 194064 Saint Petersburg, Russia |

Saint Petersburg State University, 199034 Saint Petersburg, Russia |

⁴

Vavilov Institute of General Genetics, Saint Petersburg Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, 199034 Saint Petersburg, Russia |

⁵

Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute Named by B.P. Konstantinov of National Research Centre “Kurchatov Institute”, 188300 Gatchina, Russia

⁶

Department of Micro and Nanoelectronics, Saint Petersburg Electrotechnical University “LETI”, 197022 Saint Petersburg, Russia |

⁷

Department of Physical Chemistry, Saint Petersburg Electrotechnical University “LETI”, 197022 Saint Petersburg, Russia |

Publication type: Journal Article

Publication date: 2024-09-06

MDPI

Journal: Geosciences (Switzerland)

scimago Q2

SJR: 0.613

CiteScore: 5.3

Impact factor: 2.4

ISSN: 20763263

DOI: 10.3390/geosciences14090240

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Abstract

Ferromanganese formations are widespread in the Earth’s aquatic environment. Of all the mechanisms of their formation, the biogenic one is the most debatable. Here, we studied the Fe-Mn crusts of hydrothermal fields near the underwater volcano Puy de Folles (rift valley of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge). The chemical and mineralogical composition (optical and electron microscopy with EDX, X-ray powder diffraction, X-ray fluorescence analysis, Raman and FTIR spectroscopy, gas chromatography—mass spectrometry (GC-MS)) and the magnetic properties (static and resonance methods, including at cryogenic temperatures) of the samples of Fe-Mn crusts were investigated. In the IR absorption spectra, based on hydrogen bond stretching vibrations, it was concluded that there were compounds with aliphatic (alkane) groups as well as compounds with double bonds (possibly with a benzene ring). The GC-MS analysis showed the presence of alkanes, alkenes, hopanes, and steranes. Magnetically, the material is highly coercive; the blocking temperatures are 3 and 13 K. The main carriers of magnetism are ultrafine particles and X-ray amorphous matter. The analysis of experimental data allows us to conclude that the studied ferromanganese crusts, namely in their ferruginous phase, were formed as a result of induced biomineralization with the participation of iron-oxidizing and iron-reducing bacteria.