Late Cretaceous hydrothermal vent communities from the Troodos ophiolite, Cyprus

The Kinousa, Memi, Kambia, Kapedhes, and Sha massive sulfide deposits locat ed in the Troodos ophiolite, Cyprus, contain fossils from Late Cretaceous h ydrothermal vent communities that lived on a spreading ridge above a subduc tion zone in the Neotethys ocean. The Troodos vent fossils provide unequivo cal evidence for the exhalative origin of the host massive sulfide deposits , including those that are now located deep within the lava pile. The fossi l vent assemblages are of low diversity; they contain numerous vestimentife ran worm tubes, uncommon cerithioid and epitoniid gastropods, and rare (?)s erpulid worm tubes. Among the reported modern and ancient vent communities the presence of epitoniid gastropods is unique to Cyprus. At least three of the Troodos vent communities were living on the sea Boor around the same t ime and were as closely spaced as vent communities on modern fast-spreading ridges. Together with slightly older vent worm tubes from the Semail ophio lite of Oman, currently 2500 km from Cyprus, the Troodos fossils show that hydrothermal vent communities were present in the Neotethys ocean from the Cenomanian to the Turonian, a time span of similar to 5 m.y.