RT journal article
T1 A relict oasis of living deep-sea mussels Bathymodiolus and microbial-mediated seep carbonates at newly-discovered active cold seeps in the Gulf of Cadiz, NE Atlantic Ocean
A1 Somoza-Losada, Luis
A1 Rueda, José Luis
A1 González, Francisco J.
A1 Rincón-Tomás, Blanca
A1 Medialdea-Cela, Teresa
A1 Sánchez Guillamón, Olga
A1 Hoppert, Michael
A1 Vázquez, Juan T.
A1 Madureira, Pedro
A1 Santofimia, Esther
A1 López‑Pamo, Enrique
A1 Palomino Cantero, Desirée
A1 Ortíz, José Eugenio
A1 Blanco, Lorena
A1 Fernández Puga, María del Carmen
A1 Fernández-Salas, Luis Miguel
A1 Reitner, Joachim
A2 Ciencias de la Tierra
K1 Deep-sea mussels
K1 Chemosynthesis-based habitats
K1 Bathymodiolus mauritanicus
K1 Cold seeps
K1 Seep carbonates
K1 Mud volcanoes
K1 Gulf of Cádiz
AB Extensive beds of the deep-sea mussel Bathymodiolus mauritanicus (currently also known as Gigantidas mauritanicus) linkedto active cold seeps related to fissure-like activity on Al Gacel mud volcano, Gulf of Cádiz, were filmed and sampled for thefirst time during the oceanographic expedition SUBVENT-2 aboard R/V Sarmiento de Gamboa. Al Gacel mud volcano is oneof up to 80 fluid venting submarine structures (mud volcanoes and mud volcano/diapir complexes) identified in the Gulf ofCádiz as result of explosive venting of hydrocarbon-enriched fluids sourced from deep seated reservoirs. This mud volcanois a cone-shaped edifice, 107 m high, 944 m in diameter constituted by mud breccias and, partially covered by pavementsof seep carbonates. Extensive beds of this deep-sea mussel were detected at the northern flank at 810–815 m water depthassociated with bacterial mats around intermittent buoyant vertical bubble methane plumes. High methane concentrationswere measured in the water column above living mussel beds. Other chemosymbiotic species (Siboglinum sp., Solemyaelarraichensis, Isorropodon sp., Thyasira vulcolutre and Lucinoma asapheus) were also found in different parts of Al Gacelmud volcano. Al Gacel mud volcano may currently represent one of the most active mud volcanoes in the Gulf of Cádiz,delivering significant amounts of thermogenic hydrocarbon fluids which contribute to foster the extensive chemosynthesisbasedcommunities detected. This finding is of paramount importance for linking extremophile bivalve populations alongthe North Atlantic, including cold seeps of the Gulf of México, hydrothermal vents of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and now,detailed documented at the Gulf of Cádiz.
PB SPRINGER HEIDELBERG
SN 0031-0220
YR 2021
FD 2021-12
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10498/26361
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10498/26361
LA eng
NO Open Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature. Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion, Project EXPLOSEA (CTM2016-75947-R), Luis Somoza, Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovacion y Universidades, Project SUBVENT (CGL201239524-C02), Luis Somoza.
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Cádiz
RD 13-nov-2026