The Gela Basin pockmark field in the strait of Sicily (Mediterranean Sea) : chemosymbiotic faunal and carbonate signatures of postglacial to modern cold seepage

dc.contributor.author Taviani, Marco
dc.contributor.author Angeletti, Lorenzo
dc.contributor.author Ceregato, A.
dc.contributor.author Foglini, F.
dc.contributor.author Froglia, C.
dc.contributor.author Trincardi, F.
dc.date.accessioned 2013-09-06T15:33:17Z
dc.date.available 2013-09-06T15:33:17Z
dc.date.issued 2013-07-12
dc.description © The Author(s), 2013. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Biogeosciences 10 (2013): 4653-4671, doi:10.5194/bg-10-4653-2013. en_US
dc.description.abstract The geo-biological exploration of a pockmark field located at ca. 800 m below sea level in the Gela basin (Strait of Sicily, Central Mediterranean) provided a relatively diverse chemosymbiotic community and methane-imprinted carbonates. To date, this is the first occurrence of such a type of specialised deep-water cold-seep communities recorded from this key region, before documented in the Mediterranean as rather disjunct findings in its eastern and westernmost basins. The thiotrophic chemosymbiotic organisms recovered from this area include empty tubes of the vestimentiferan Lamellibrachia sp., loose and articulated shells of lucinids (Lucinoma kazani, Myrtea amorpha), vesicomyids (Isorropodon perplexum), and gastropods (Taranis moerchii). A callianassid decapod (Calliax sp.) was consistently found alive in large numbers in the pockmark mud. Their post-mortem calcified parts mixed with molluscs and subordinately miliolid foraminifers form a distinct type of skeletal assemblage. Carbonate concretions display δ13C values as low as −40‰ PDB suggesting the occurrence of light hydrocarbons in the seeping fluids. Since none of the truly chemosymbiotic organisms was found alive, although their skeletal parts appear at times very fresh, some specimens have been AMS-14C dated to shed light on the historical evolution of this site. Lamellibrachiav and Lucinoma are two of the most significant chemosymbiotic taxa reported from various Mediterranean cold seep sites (Alboran Sea and Eastern basin). Specimens from station MEDCOR78 (pockmark #1, Lat. 36°46´10.18" N, Long. 14°01´31.59" E, 815 m below sea level) provided ages of 11736 ± 636 yr cal BP (Lamellibrachia sp.), and 9609.5 ± 153.5 yr cal BP (L. kazani). One shell of M. amorpha in core MEDCOR81 (pockmark #6, Lat 36°45´38.89" N, Long 14°00´07.58" E, 822 m below sea level) provided a sub-modern age of 484 ± 54 yr cal BP. These ages document that fluid seepage at this pockmark site has been episodically sustaining thiotrophic macrobenthic communities since the end of the Younger Dryas stadial up to sub-recent times. en_US
dc.format.mimetype application/pdf
dc.identifier.citation Biogeosciences 10 (2013): 4653-4671 en_US
dc.identifier.doi 10.5194/bg-10-4653-2013
dc.identifier.uri https://hdl.handle.net/1912/6206
dc.language.iso en en_US
dc.publisher Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union en_US
dc.relation.uri https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-10-4653-2013
dc.rights Attribution 3.0 Unported *
dc.rights.uri http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ *
dc.title The Gela Basin pockmark field in the strait of Sicily (Mediterranean Sea) : chemosymbiotic faunal and carbonate signatures of postglacial to modern cold seepage en_US
dc.type Article en_US
dspace.entity.type Publication
relation.isAuthorOfPublication ea265ea8-c530-4491-9041-dfa723c903f5
relation.isAuthorOfPublication 17130c38-3c8c-4c71-a2de-c7d62746625d
relation.isAuthorOfPublication 7d43e590-6616-4bf8-900f-2cb0357d245b
relation.isAuthorOfPublication 1878afdd-8a8c-479d-9e38-800ca4ec180d
relation.isAuthorOfPublication 2995de6b-7d71-43b4-a53a-17b8477bb9a0
relation.isAuthorOfPublication b6411b42-4e61-40c8-a9cf-efe5dab36f6b
relation.isAuthorOfPublication.latestForDiscovery ea265ea8-c530-4491-9041-dfa723c903f5
Files
Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
bg-10-4653-2013.pdf
Size:
10.39 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
license.txt
Size:
1.89 KB
Format:
Item-specific license agreed upon to submission
Description:
Collections