Guaymas Basin

The Guaymas Basin is a marginal rift basin, the largest such basin in the Gulf of California. It consists of two axial troughs (northern and southern).[1]

Guaymas Basin is located in Mexico
Guaymas Basin
Guaymas Basin
Location of the Guaymas Basin in the Gulf of California.
Riftia tubeworms

The basin results from the activity of one of the several spreading centers in the Gulf. The basin is linked to the Carmen Fault to the south, and the Guaymas Fault to the north.

The Guaymas seafloor has high heat flow,[2] hydrothermal plumes,[3] and hydrocarbon seeps.[4]

Features

Biology

Especially in the southern trough, the Guaymas Basin supports a unique and vibrant ecosystem. Heterotrophs consume organic matter rained down from the productive surface waters, while chemolithoautotrophs metabolize chemicals in the reduced hydrothermal fluid (often cycling these chemicals with syntrophic partners). Of note are the colonies of Riftia tubeworms, Beggiatoa and other microbial mats, and thermophilic microbes that can withstand hydrothermal temperatures (here up to __ °C).[5]

References
  1. Geilert, Sonja; Hensen, Christian; Schmidt, Mark; Liebetrau, Volker; Scholz, Florian; Doll, Mechthild; Deng, Longhui; Fiskal, Annika; Lever, Mark A.; Su, Chih-Chieh; Schloemer, Stefan; Sarkar, Sudipta; Thiel, Volker; Berndt, Christian (2018-09-27). "On the formation of hydrothermal vents and cold seeps in the Guaymas Basin, Gulf of California". Biogeosciences. 15 (18): 5715–5731. doi:10.5194/bg-15-5715-2018. ISSN 1726-4170.
  2. Williams, David L.; Becker, Keir; Lawver, Lawrence A.; Von Herzen, Richard P. (1979-11-10). "Heat flow at the spreading centers of the Guaymas Basin, Gulf of California". Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth. 84 (B12): 6757–6769. Bibcode:1979JGR....84.6757W. doi:10.1029/JB084iB12p06757.
  3. Merewether, Ray; Olsson, Mark S.; Lonsdale, Peter (1985). "Acoustically detected hydrocarbon plumes rising from 2-km depths in Guaymas Basin, Gulf of California". Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth. 90 (B4): 3075–3085. Bibcode:1985JGR....90.3075M. doi:10.1029/JB090iB04p03075. ISSN 2156-2202.
  4. Simoneit, B.R.T.; Lonsdale, P.F.; Edmond, J.M.; Shanks, W.C. (1990-01-01). "Deep-water hydrocarbon seeps in Guaymas Basin, Gulf of California". Applied Geochemistry. 5 (1–2): 41–49. Bibcode:1990ApGC....5...41S. doi:10.1016/0883-2927(90)90034-3. ISSN 0883-2927.
  5. Teske, Andreas; de Beer, Dirk; McKay, Luke J.; Tivey, Margaret K.; Biddle, Jennifer F.; Hoer, Daniel; Lloyd, Karen G.; Lever, Mark A.; Røy, Hans; Albert, Daniel B.; Mendlovitz, Howard P. (2016). "The Guaymas Basin Hiking Guide to Hydrothermal Mounds, Chimneys, and Microbial Mats: Complex Seafloor Expressions of Subsurface Hydrothermal Circulation". Frontiers in Microbiology. 7: 75. doi:10.3389/fmicb.2016.00075. ISSN 1664-302X. PMC 4757712. PMID 26925032.
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