Zinc-iron sulphide mineralization in tubes of hydrothermal vent worms
Zinc-iron sulphide mineralization in tubes of hydrothermal vent worms (in Biogenic iron minerals, Mihaly Posfai (prefacer))
European Journal of Mineralogy (August 2001) 13 (4): 653-658
- biomineralization
- black smokers
- crystal structure
- East Pacific
- East Pacific Rise
- fluid phase
- hydrothermal conditions
- hydrothermal vents
- Invertebrata
- iron minerals
- living taxa
- metals
- microorganisms
- optical properties
- Pacific Ocean
- Polychaetia
- polymorphism
- polytypism
- space groups
- sulfides
- TEM data
- Vermes
- zinc
- Alvinellidae
- biominerals
- energy-dispersive X-ray data
- Alvinella
- Alvinella popejana
Nanocrystalline zinc-iron sulphide minerals were found within tubes of Alvinella pompejana, collected at 9 degrees N on the East Pacific Rise, in a preliminary stydy carried out by conventional analytical transmission electron microscopy. Their structure is consistent with either the sphalerite or wurtzite polymorphs of ZnS. In contrast with sulphides usually observed in deep-sea hydrothermal environments, the unique sulphide observed within the exoskeleton of the pompeii worms has a (Zn (sub 0.88) Fe (sub 0.12) )S composition. The zinc-iron sulphide nanocrystals are grouped in submicrometer-sized clusters which form layers, concentrically to the proteinaceous tube axis. This is the first characterization of minerals precipitated within a biological matrix from hydrothermal vents organisms. These minerals represent a new example of zinc-iron biologically induced mineralization. Such layers of nanocrystalline zinc-iron sulphide minerals could be used as valuable markers of annelid tubes, in the growing field of studies focusing on fossilized paleo-hydrothermal vent systems.
