Recovery of hydrothermal wustite-magnetite spherules from the Central Indian Ridge, Indian Ocean.

ABSTRACT: A sediment sample with high abundance (19 spherules in ~ 85 g) of spherules was recovered from Central Indian Ridge (CIR) segment S2 (70° 54' E, 25° 14' S to 70° 50' E, 24° 41' S), ~ 85 km north of Rodrigues triple junction (RTJ). On the external surface of the spherules, magnetite appears as crystals, whereas wustite mostly appears as a homogenous glass phase. These spherules are composed of wustite and magnetite hosting Mn, unlike micrometeorites which essentially host Ni. Mn is more heterogeneously distributed with a relatively higher concentration in the wustite phase than the magnetite, suggesting hydrothermal origin. Furthermore, the presence of sulfide nano-particles in the wustite phase and a minor quantity of Pb and S in the ferrihydrite matrix points to the fact that CIR spherule

SUBMITTER: Agarwal DK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9042910 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature