Along with summa
rizing the published lite
ratu
re and ou
r own data some new
results on p
rope
rties of the t
race metal biogeochemist
ry in the deep-sea hyd
rothe
rmal ecosystems at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR) and East Pacific Rise (EPR) a
re shown. Diffe
rences in mean concent
rations of big g
roup of t
race metals (Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, Ni, C
r, Co, As, Pb, Cd, Ag, Hg) between the biotope wate
r of the low- and high-tempe
ratu
re hyd
rothe
rmal vent fields we
re fi
rstly
revealed. The same t
race metals we
re studied in diffe
rent g
roups of o
rganisms within diffe
rent tempe
ratu
re zones at one and the same vent field (9¡ã50¡äN EPR), as well as in fauna inhabiting geochemically diffe
rent vent sites. Dist
ribution patte
rns of Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, Cd, Pb, Ag, Ni, C
r, Co, As, Se, Sb, and Hg in diffe
rent taxa gave an evidence of the influence of envi
ronmental and biological pa
ramete
rs on thei
r bioaccumulation in o
rganisms. Among the animals a pa
rticula
r ¡°champion¡± with
respect to the t
race metal content was found to be a polychaeta
Alvinella pompejana that inhabits the hottest places of the vent sulfide chimneys of the 9¡ã50¡äN field, EPR. New data on the t
race metal dist
ribution between soft tissues and ca
rbonate shell let us estimate a
role of biomine
ralization in the accumulation of metals in the
Bathimodiolus mussels. Cont
rasting geochemical behavio
r was
revealed fo
r Cu that is en
riched in soft tissues of mussels and depleted in shells, on the one hand, and Mn that is accumulated almost totally in mussel shells, on the othe
r hand.
Deep-sea hydrothermal biological communities demonstrate a strong concentration function, and bioconcentration factors (BCF) of trace metals estimated for Bathimodiolus mussels collected at the four hydrothermal fields vary within the limits of n102-n105 and are similar to that of the littoral mussels. Due to this and to the high values of biomasses per square meter, the hydrothermal fauna may be considered as a newly discovered biological filter of the oceans.