Mineralogical and geochemical features of three cores of proximal metalliferous sediments from the Semenov hydrothermal sulfide cluster were studied in order to decipher the evolution of fluid discharge. Iron has a dual origin in core sediments: from hydrothermal plume fallout and mass-wasted sulfide deposits. A novel approach of quantitatively assess the relative amount of plume fallout matter allowed us to reconstruct the temporal variations of hydrothermal activity within the Semenov-1, 2 and 4 fields, which lasted permanently for about ~43 kyr with varying intensity.