First discovery of a cold seep on the continental margin of the central Red Sea

A new cold brine seep system with microbial mats and metazoan assemblages was discovered by a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) on the Saudi continental margin of central Red Sea. Now named as Thuwal Seeps, it has a shallow brine pool between 840 and 850m water depths that is formed by focused brine e...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of marine systems 2012-06, Vol.94, p.247-253
Main Authors: Batang, Zenon B., Papathanassiou, Evangelos, Al-Suwailem, Abdulaziz, Smith, Chris, Salomidi, Maria, Petihakis, George, Alikunhi, Nabeel M., Smith, Lloyd, Mallon, Francis, Yapici, Tahir, Fayad, Nabil
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Brine pool
Cold seep
Metazoan fauna
Microbial mat
Polychaete tubeworm
Red Sea
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Summary:A new cold brine seep system with microbial mats and metazoan assemblages was discovered by a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) on the Saudi continental margin of central Red Sea. Now named as Thuwal Seeps, it has a shallow brine pool between 840 and 850m water depths that is formed by focused brine expulsions from two sites (Seep I: 22°17.3′N, 38°53.8′E; Seep II: 22°16.9′N, 38°53.9′E). The seep is located at the base of a steep wall rock closer to the shore (20km) than to the axial trough (120km). The brine pool does not exhibit a significant thermal anomaly (
ISSN:0924-7963
1879-1573
DOI:10.1016/j.jmarsys.2011.12.004