Fauna associated with cold seeps in the deep Colombian Caribbean (original) (raw)
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2012 JMBA Gracia et al Methane seep molluscs Caribbean Sea Colombia
Several species of bivalves belonging to families which are typically associated with reducing conditions, like those observed at methane seep sites, have been obtained in recent explorations of the Caribbean Sea margin off the coast of Colombia. The material has been collected at depths of around 500 m west of the Magdalena and Sinú deltas, located in the Sinú -San Jacinto fold belt. These bivalves correspond to the families Vesicomyidae (Calyptogena ponderosa, Vesicomya caribbea and Ectenagena modioliforma), Lucinidae (Graecina colombiensis and three unidentified species of Lucinoma), Solemyidae (Acharax caribbaea) and Thyasiridae (Conchocele bisecta). In addition, for the first time off Colombia empty tubes of vestimentiferan polychaetes, belonging to the family Siboglinidae, were collected. At some of these sites the presence of authigenic carbonates has been observed together with the biological material. Although the obligate seep fauna generally contains relatively few and endemic species, a large suite of accompanying heterotrophic species (here we report only the molluscs) has been found at the seep sites. The occurrence of carbonates, the geological characteristics of the area and the new biological evidence confirms the presence of methane seep ecosystems in the Caribbean Sea off Colombia.
2016
A new methodology was developed to identify cold seeps and structured benthic communities associated, which was applied for the first time in the offshore southern Colombian Caribbean. The integral method consists on a new processing of double-coverage (200%) high-resolution backscatter data combined with bathymetric information; validation was done correlating identified gas plumes, seabed cores and drift camera surveys. Results showed that the elimination of artefacts and the increased signal of the backscatter data allowed accurate plotting of seep boundaries and categorization of seeps into an activity catalogue, with more than 200 seeps identified. Most seeps have chemosynthetic communities associated and data analysis from a previous survey showed two ridges with hard ground as the only possible areas for the development the of deepwater corals. Seep results were compared with designated Areas of Significance for Biodiversity (ASB) identifying seeps both within and outside the ASBs, and showing that the presence of seeps and chemosynthetic communities associated were driven more by geological processes than for big-scale seabed morphology, since they were found in both plains and ridges. This methodology allows an accurate seabed map of structured benthic communities, which may work as a precise geo-hazard map to ensure the oil & gas industry can avoid these areas of shallow gas for further developments, and as a map of deep-water structured benthic communities with environmental significance. A. Digby et al. 762
Palaeogene and Neogene cold seep communities in Barbados, Trinidad and Venezuela: An overview
Palaeogeography, …, 2005
Palaeogene and Neogene fossiliferous carbonates from Barbados, Trinidad and northern Venezuela are interpreted to have formed at ancient cold seep sites. The hydrocarbon seepage that fuelled these chemosymbiotic ecosystems was related to tectonic activity in the southern Caribbean region, particularly the subduction of the Caribbean Plate beneath the North Atlantic Plate. The carbonates and fossils from the Scotland District, north-eastern Barbados, are Eocene–Miocene in age and are associated with two distinct tectonic units: the Sub-Oceanic Fault Zone and a diapiric mélange. The Sub-Oceanic Fault Zone is the tectonic junction between accretionary prism sediments and over-lying thrust sheets of fore-arc basin sediments. The loading of the thrust sheets caused methane-rich fluids to be expelled from the accretionary prism sediments and channelled to the sea floor via the Sub-Oceanic Fault Zone, where it supported chemosymbiotic invertebrate communities containing vesicomyid, lucinid, thyasirid, solemyid and nuculanid bivalves, a variety of gastropods and possibly vestimentiferan tube worms. The diapiric mélange is considered to represent sediment that failed under pressure in the accretionary prism and was remobilised as a diapir that extruded onto the sea floor, providing a conduit for methane and other hydrocarbons that sustained a chemosynthesis-based community of vesicomyid, lucinid and nuculanid bivalves and various gastropods. The geological setting of fossiliferous carbonates known as Freeman's Bay Limestone, in southwest Trinidad, has been less fully investigated. The Freeman's Bay Limestone is a member of the Miocene Lengua Formation, which is believed to have formed in a fore-deep basin on-lapping onto an accretionary prism formed by the subduction of proto-Caribbean crust beneath the South American Plate. The carbonates and fossils of the FBL, including the bivalves Pleurophopsis unioides Van Winkle, 1919 and Thyasira adoccasa Van Winkle, 1919, lucinids, nuculanids and bathymodiolins, and provannid and other gastropods, are interpreted to have formed at palaeo-seep sites on the accretionary prism. Little is currently known about the geological setting of the fossils collected from the Miocene Huso Member of the Pozon Formation, from northern Venezuela, but a seep origin is strongly suspected based on the taxa present. Like the fossil assemblages from Barbados and Trinidad, the Venezuelan material is dominated by vesicomyid bivalves, together with lucinid, thyasirid, bathymodiolin and solemyid bivalves and various gastropods. These taxa are characteristics of modern cold seep communities. Most comparisons between the fossil Caribbean and modern seep fauna are necessarily at the generic or family level, although in some cases, individual species are found at both ancient and modern seep sites. For example, the gastropod Cataegis meroglypta is found in seep carbonate from the SOFZ of Barbados and the FBL of Trinidad as well as at modern seeps on the Barbados Prism. At the generic level, this study has revealed the first fossil occurrences of Abyssochrysos and Provanna in the Caribbean. Such temporal and spatial links further the understanding of both local and global patterns of biogeographic distribution of cold seep fauna.
GUÍA VISUAL DE ORGANISMOS DE AGUAS PROFUNDAS DEL CARIBE COLOMBIANO / VISUAL GUIDE FOR DEEP SEA ORGANISMS OF THE COLOMBIAN CARIBBEAN, 2019
This visual guide is illustrated with images captured by Anadarko Colombia Company (ACC), a subsidiary of Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (APC), during its normal offshore hydrocarbon exploration process at depths between 375 and 3288 m in the Colombian Caribbean Sea. Images were taken by towed camera, Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV), and by samples taken in Piston Core projects. Images were classified by large taxonomic groups. National experts were contacted to identify the organisms to the most specific taxonomic level possible. International experts were also contacted to confirm organisms previously identified or to identify those for which no national expert was available. This guide includes introductions for each major taxonomic group and other ones for more specific groups (if applicable), provided by the experts themselves, who participated in the identification of the organisms. This is the first visual guide of deep-sea organisms (mega fauna) for the Colombian Caribbean.
Biodiversity on the Rocks: Macrofauna Inhabiting Authigenic Carbonate at Costa Rica Methane Seeps
Carbonate communities: The activity of anaerobic methane oxidizing microbes facilitates precipitation of vast quantities of authigenic carbonate at methane seeps. Here we demonstrate the significant role of carbonate rocks in promoting diversity by providing unique habitat and food resources for macrofaunal assemblages at seeps on the Costa Rica margin (400–1850 m). The attendant fauna is surprisingly similar to that in rocky intertidal shores, with numerous grazing gastropods (limpets and snails) as dominant taxa. However, the community feeds upon seep-associated microbes. Macrofaunal density, composition, and diversity on carbonates vary as a function of seepage activity, biogenic habitat and location. The macrofaunal community of carbonates at non-seeping (inactive) sites is strongly related to the hydrography (depth, temperature, O2) of overlying water, whereas the fauna at sites of active seepage is not. Densities are highest on active rocks from tubeworm bushes and mussel beds, particularly at the Mound 12 location (1000 m). Species diversity is higher on rocks exposed to active seepage, with multiple species of gastropods and polychaetes dominant, while crustaceans, cnidarians, and ophiuroids were better represented on rocks at inactive sites. Macro-infauna (larger than 0.3 mm) from tube cores taken in nearby seep sediments at comparable depths exhibited densities similar to those on carbonate rocks, but had lower diversity and different taxonomic composition. Seep sediments had higher densities of ampharetid, dorvilleid, hesionid, cirratulid and lacydoniid polychaetes, whereas carbonates had more gastropods, as well as syllid, chrysopetalid and polynoid polychaetes. Stable isotope signatures and metrics: The stable isotope signatures of carbonates were heterogeneous, as were the food sources and nutrition used by the animals. Carbonate δ13Cinorg values (mean = -26.98‰) ranged from -53.3‰ to +10.0‰, and were significantly heavier than carbonate δ13Corg (mean = -33.83‰), which ranged from -74.4‰ to -20.6‰. Invertebrates on carbonates had average δ13C (per rock) = -31.0‰ (range -18.5‰ to -46.5‰) and δ15N = 5.7‰ (range -4.5‰ to +13.4‰). Average δ13C values did not differ between active and inactive sites; carbonate fauna from both settings depend on chemosynthesis-based nutrition. Community metrics reflecting trophic diversity (SEAc, total Hull Area, ranges of δ13C and δ15N) and species packing (mean distance to centroid, nearest neighbor distance) also did not vary as a function of seepage activity or site. However, distinct isotopic signatures were observed among related, co-occurring species of gastropods and polychaetes, reflecting intense microbial resource partitioning. Overall, the substrate and nutritional heterogeneity introduced by authigenic seep carbonates act to promote diverse, uniquely adapted assemblages, even after seepage ceases. The macrofauna in these ecosystems remain largely overlooked in most surveys, but are major contributors to biodiversity of chemosynthetic ecosystems and the deep sea in general.
2012
The main scientific objective of R/V METEOR cruise M78/1 was to describe the linkage of western Atlantic Warm Pool variabilty with changes of North Atlantic thermohaline circulation during the late Pleistocene and Holocene. In particular, the spatial and temporal dynamics of the Loop Current as link between the central Caribbean and Gulf Stream system had to be assessed. Emphasis was given to temperature and salinity preconditioning of Caribbean surface waters, the short-term dynamics of the Gulf Stream, and its impact on benthic communities in Caribbean sea straits. Sediment, water and plankton samples were collected in order to describe the recent and paleoceanographical impact of freshwater shedding from the main rivers into the Caribbean. Plankton tows and hydrographic measurements revealed the environmental conditions and physical fine structure of the surface ocean in the central Caribbean and close to the Orinoco mouth. The topography and internal structures of sedimentary drifts, deep-water mounds and lag sediments in Caribbean sea straits were surveyed with hydroacoustics. Benthic biota and sedimentary processes were documented with OFOS observations and surface sediment samples. The environmental settings in Caribbean sea straits were assessed with sea floor observatory deployments. Historical climate archives from the intermediate water were retrieved with piston and gravity coring. The new data and samples from this cruise will allow to describe the variability of Orinoco river shedding, to validate geochemical proxies for reconstructions of surface ocean properties, to reveal the population dynamics of planktonic foraminifera, and to characterise the past near-surface and intermediate water mass dynamics in the Caribbean. This will accomplish the objectives of cruise M78/1.
2019
Background Attention to the deep-sea environment has increased dramatically in the last decade due to the rising interest in natural resource exploitation. Although Colombia holds a large submerged territory, knowledge of the seabed and its biodiversity beyond 1,000 m depth is very limited. During 2015-2017, Anadarko Colombia Company (ACC) carried out hydrocarbon exploratory activities in the Southwestern Colombian Caribbean, at depths between 375 m and 2,565 m.
Biodiversity Data Journal , 2019
Attention to the deep-sea environment has increased dramatically in the last decade due to the rising interest in natural resource exploitation. Although Colombia holds a large submerged territory, knowledge of the seabed and its biodiversity beyond 1,000 m depth is very limited. During 2015–2017, Anadarko Colombia Company (ACC) carried out hydrocarbon exploratory activities in the South-western Colombian Caribbean, at depths between 375 m and 2,565 m. Capitalising on available data resources from these activities, several cnidarian species were observed in ROV and towed camera surveys. We analysed over nine hours of video and 5,066 still images from these surveys, identifying organisms to the lowest possible taxonomic level. The images and associated data presented here correspond to 108 observations of deep-sea cnidarians, including seven new records for the Colombian Caribbean. Given the paucity of research and funding to explore the deep-sea in Colombia, the present dataset comprises the largest deep-sea Cnidaria imagery inventory to date for the Colombian Caribbean.
The classification and structure of megafaunal assemblages in the Venezuela Basin, Caribbean Sea
Data from 23 benthic trawls collected from the Venezuela Basin (3411-5062 m water depth) indicate that megafauna are less abundant than in basins of similar depths in the Atlantic and are segregated by sedimentary province. Taxonomic assemblages, in terms of abundance and biomass, from three sites coincide with distinctions of sedimentary characteristics among the pelagic, hemipelagic and turbidite sedimentary provinces. Mollusks, decapods and fishes are most abundant in trawls collected from the pelagic and hemipelagic provinces and anemones and holothurians are most abundant in trawls collected from the turbidite province. Sponges dominate the biomass of fauna in trawls collected in the turbidite and hemipelagic provinces and fishes dominate the biomass of trawls collected in the pelagic province. Several biological and physical aspects of the basin contribute to the segregation of the megafauna into distinct communities. Sponges and anthropogenic debris (coal, coal clinker and tar balls) reaching the sea floor create a habitat that is exploited by sessile suspension feeders requiring a hard substrate. Filter-feeding anemones attached to debris occur in such abundance that it elevates the importance of suspension feeders and depresses species diversity at the turbidite site. Biomass and average size of megafaunal deposit feeders in the basin decrease with decreasing amounts of organic carbon and nitrogen content of the sediment. Distribution and composition of filter-feeding megafaunal biomass in the Venezuela Basin are explained largely by proximity to sources of organic matter. Detrital carbonate may also play a role in controlling distribution and density of megafauna by diluting food resources in the sediments.