Calypso Vent field, Bay of Plenty Region, New Zealandi
| Regional Level Types | |
|---|---|
| Calypso Vent field | - not defined - |
| Bay of Plenty Region | Region |
| New Zealand | Country |
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Latitude & Longitude (WGS84):
37° 40' South , 177° 7' East
Latitude & Longitude (decimal):
Located some 20kms to 100kms off the coast in the Bay of Plenty.
Hydrothermal activity at the vent sites is controlled by minor, sub-parallel NE-trending normal faults. Gas bubble trails (C02) and shimmering hot water vent from fractures and joints between large blocks of silicified volcaniclastics and in depressions in the sediments at the base of these outcrops. Measured maximum vent temperatures are between 180C and 201C. Venting fluids are at, or just below, boiling for water depths of 200 m.
Named after Jacque Cousteau's ship, the research team discovering the first vent in 1971. The vents are 10 kilometres south-west of White Island, in 180-200 metres of water in the Bay of Plenty. There are four vent fields covering 50 km2- called North, Central, South-East, and South-West fields.
The vents are centimetre scale holes on a sandy sea floor, along fractures in the underlying laminated volcaniclastic rocks. The vents have haloes of native sulphur and filamentous bacteria. The geothermal field is part of the regional Whakatane Graben, in the northern section of the Taupo Volcanic Zone.
The North vents show as weakly lithified volcaniclastic material altered to montmorillonite and native sulphur.
The South-East and South-West vents show as amorphous silica cement between volcaniclastic particles, overprinting earlier barite, minor clay, and native sulphur. Cinnabar, stibnite needles, and amorphous arsenic sulphides form outer crusts, fill fractures, and are inclusions in pyrite-silica veins impregnating volcanic ash. Some sulphur rich clay, hydrocarbons, and charcoal fragments are noted. The silica forms opal cement terraces around sinter deposits.
The Central vents contain 6-8 metre high anhydrite mounds.
(Robertson, 1999) determined species including smectite, illite, fine grained muscovite, native sulphur, amorphous silica, cristobalite, barite, gypsum, anhydrite, pyrite, cinnabar, orpiment, realgar, and stibnite from studing samples.
Select Mineral List Type
Standard Detailed Gallery Strunz Chemical ElementsDetailed Mineral List:
| ⓘ Anhydrite Formula: CaSO4 Reference: Schwarz-Schampera, U.,et al. (2007) Cruise Report SONNE 192/2, MANGO. Marine Geoscientific Research on Input and Output in the Tonga-Kermadec Subduction Zone |
| ⓘ Baryte Formula: BaSO4 Reference: Schwarz-Schampera, U.,et al. (2007) Cruise Report SONNE 192/2, MANGO. Marine Geoscientific Research on Input and Output in the Tonga-Kermadec Subduction Zone |
| ⓘ Cinnabar Formula: HgS Reference: Schwarz-Schampera, U.,et al. (2007) Cruise Report SONNE 192/2, MANGO. Marine Geoscientific Research on Input and Output in the Tonga-Kermadec Subduction Zone |
| ⓘ Mercury Formula: Hg Reference: P. Stoffers, M. Hannington, I. Wright, P. Herzig, C. de Ronde, and Shipboard Scientific Party. Elemental mercury at submarine hydrothermal vents in the Bay of Plenty, Taupo volcanic zone, New Zealand Geology, October, 1999, v. 27, p. 931-934 |
| ⓘ Opal Formula: SiO2 · nH2O Reference: Schwarz-Schampera, U.,et al. (2007) Cruise Report SONNE 192/2, MANGO. Marine Geoscientific Research on Input and Output in the Tonga-Kermadec Subduction Zone |
| ⓘ Orpiment Formula: As2S3 Reference: J Robertson, (1999) Morphology and Mineralogy of Shallow Submarine Hydrothermal Vents of the Calypso Geothermal Field, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand. The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy |
| ⓘ Pyrite Formula: FeS2 Reference: Schwarz-Schampera, U.,et al. (2007) Cruise Report SONNE 192/2, MANGO. Marine Geoscientific Research on Input and Output in the Tonga-Kermadec Subduction Zone |
| ⓘ Quartz Formula: SiO2 Reference: Schwarz-Schampera, U.,et al. (2007) Cruise Report SONNE 192/2, MANGO. Marine Geoscientific Research on Input and Output in the Tonga-Kermadec Subduction Zone |
| ⓘ Realgar Formula: As4S4 Reference: Schwarz-Schampera, U.,et al. (2007) Cruise Report SONNE 192/2, MANGO. Marine Geoscientific Research on Input and Output in the Tonga-Kermadec Subduction Zone |
| ⓘ Stibnite Formula: Sb2S3 Reference: Schwarz-Schampera, U.,et al. (2007) Cruise Report SONNE 192/2, MANGO. Marine Geoscientific Research on Input and Output in the Tonga-Kermadec Subduction Zone |
| ⓘ Sulphur Formula: S8 Reference: Schwarz-Schampera, U.,et al. (2007) Cruise Report SONNE 192/2, MANGO. Marine Geoscientific Research on Input and Output in the Tonga-Kermadec Subduction Zone |
Gallery:
List of minerals arranged by Strunz 10th Edition classification
| Group 1 - Elements | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| ⓘ | Mercury | 1.AD.05 | Hg |
| ⓘ | Sulphur | 1.CC.05 | S8 |
| Group 2 - Sulphides and Sulfosalts | |||
| ⓘ | Cinnabar | 2.CD.15a | HgS |
| ⓘ | Orpiment | 2.FA.30 | As2S3 |
| ⓘ | Pyrite | 2.EB.05a | FeS2 |
| ⓘ | Realgar | 2.FA.15a | As4S4 |
| ⓘ | Stibnite | 2.DB.05 | Sb2S3 |
| Group 4 - Oxides and Hydroxides | |||
| ⓘ | Opal | 4.DA.10 | SiO2 · nH2O |
| ⓘ | Quartz | 4.DA.05 | SiO2 |
| Group 7 - Sulphates, Chromates, Molybdates and Tungstates | |||
| ⓘ | Anhydrite | 7.AD.30 | CaSO4 |
| ⓘ | Baryte | 7.AD.35 | BaSO4 |
List of minerals for each chemical element
| H | Hydrogen | |
|---|---|---|
| H | ⓘ Opal | SiO2 · nH2O |
| O | Oxygen | |
| O | ⓘ Anhydrite | CaSO4 |
| O | ⓘ Baryte | BaSO4 |
| O | ⓘ Opal | SiO2 · nH2O |
| O | ⓘ Quartz | SiO2 |
| Si | Silicon | |
| Si | ⓘ Opal | SiO2 · nH2O |
| Si | ⓘ Quartz | SiO2 |
| S | Sulfur | |
| S | ⓘ Orpiment | As2S3 |
| S | ⓘ Sulphur | S8 |
| S | ⓘ Realgar | As4S4 |
| S | ⓘ Anhydrite | CaSO4 |
| S | ⓘ Baryte | BaSO4 |
| S | ⓘ Cinnabar | HgS |
| S | ⓘ Stibnite | Sb2S3 |
| S | ⓘ Pyrite | FeS2 |
| Ca | Calcium | |
| Ca | ⓘ Anhydrite | CaSO4 |
| Fe | Iron | |
| Fe | ⓘ Pyrite | FeS2 |
| As | Arsenic | |
| As | ⓘ Orpiment | As2S3 |
| As | ⓘ Realgar | As4S4 |
| Sb | Antimony | |
| Sb | ⓘ Stibnite | Sb2S3 |
| Ba | Barium | |
| Ba | ⓘ Baryte | BaSO4 |
| Hg | Mercury | |
| Hg | ⓘ Cinnabar | HgS |
| Hg | ⓘ Mercury | Hg |
References
Sort by
Year (asc) Year (desc) Author (A-Z) Author (Z-A)Robertson, J. (1999) Morphology and Mineralogy of Shallow Submarine Hydrothermal Vents of the Calypso Geothermal Field, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand. The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, New Zealand branch 32nd annual conference, Vol.32, 41-50.
Stoffers, P., Hannington, M., Wright, I., Herzig, P., de Ronde, C., Shipboard Scientific Party (1999) Elemental mercury at submarine hydrothermal vents in the Bay of Plenty, Taupo volcanic zone, New Zealand. Geology 27(10), 931-934.
Hocking, M.W.A. (2007) The Calypso Hydrothermal Vent Field: The Seafloor Expression of an Active Submarine Low Sulphidation Epithermal System, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand. (unpublished thesis, MSc), University of Ottawa, Canada.
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