Dissolved plume portion

The fate of dissolved Fe from MOR vents has been investigated at the Rainbow plume from the mid-Atlantic Ridge. Plume particles were sampled from the buoyant part of the Rainbow plume, proximal to the vent, as well as particles from neutrally buoyant portions of the plume that were more distal from the vent (Severmann et al. 2003). Particles from the buoyant part of the plume have positive 5 Fe values (up to +1.2%o), whereas in the neutrally buoyant sections of the plume, the particles have a near-constant 8 Fe value of -0.2%o that matches the Fe isotope composition of the vent fluid. The high 5 Fe values of plume particles that were proximal to the vent probably reflect oxidation processes. In the neutrally-buoyant plume, all aqueous Fe(ll) had been oxidized and it appears that there was no net loss in Fe because the neutrally buoyant plume particles have the same isotopic composition as the vent fluid. Moreover, metalliferous sediments sampled below the plume match the isotopic composition of the plume particles. The implication of these data is that for at least one plume, the Fe isotope composition of the vent fluid matches that of the plume particles. The Rainbow vent fluid, however, has an unusually high Fe to S ratio and hence it is uncertain if these results can be extrapolated to other plumes that originated fi om vent fluids that had lower Fe to S ratios. 

Contaminants can be found in the subsurface dissolved in water, sorbed to soil, as vapors in the unsaturated pore spaces or existing as discrete volumes of free material in its original form (referred to as free phase ). Generally, the zone that contains residually bound or free-phase contaminant as described earlier serves as a source (reservoir) for further migration of contaminants into the ground water. That portion of contaminant dissolved in water creates a plume that migrates with the flow of water and is subject to natural attenuation processes. 

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