现代海底热水活动的系统性研究及其科学意义

现代海底热水活动是当前地球系统科学研究的一个重要组成部分，它是研究海底地质作用体系中的一个关键环节。海底的构造作用、岩浆活动等因素制约了热水循环的发育和活动规律，而热水活动又直接或间接地产生了一些地质效应，如海底的热水喷流成岩成矿效应，此外它还与海底的热能输导与转化、海洋化学组分特征、海洋生命和生命起源等现象有着密切的成因联系。开展现代海底热水活动的系统性研究，应注重将热水循环的内部动力学机制和热水活动所引发的外部环境效应相结合，为此我们把它初步展开为：热水循环的空间组构研究、热量输导作用研究、热水流体的化学成分研究、热水活动与极端生命的关系研究以及热水活动的生命周期研究等5个方面，分别解析其内部特征以及引发的环境效应。最后初步探讨了开展海底热水活动的系统性研究的科学意义。

MODERN SEAFLOOR HYDROTHERMAL SYSTEM AND ITS SCIENTIFIC IMPLICATIONS

The modern seafloor hydrothermal activities play great roles in the earth system. It is characteristic of the high-effective interaction among the geological processes concerning the sea, the oceanic crust, and the upper mantle. The hydrothermal circulation is constrained by magmatic activities and tectonic movements. On the other hand, the expel of the hydrothermal fluids results in many geological effects, such as the seafloor mineralization, the heat anomaly of regional seawater, the life depending on the hydrothermal vents, which occur as an integral system and it is necessary to study the hydrothermal activities and the effected environments systematically. In order to study the internal dynamic characteristics and its external effects, especially their relations, four parts are analyzed about the hydrothermal system: the spatial structure of the hydrothermal circulation, the heat transmitting process, the chemical composition of the hydrothermal fluids, the implication between hydrothermal activities and the extreme life. In the end, the significance and prospect of the hydrothermal system study are introduced.