A steady, frictional flow around a hydrothermal plume is described which is forced by the entrainment of water into the buoyant part of the plume as it rises above its source. The circulation is anticyclonic (clockwise in the northern hemisphere) near the equilibrium density level or spreading level of the plume, and cyclonic below this level. The strength of this flow is adequate to trap anomalous properties from the hydrothermal fluid near the source in the presence of weak background flow. Some observational support for such a flow is presented. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1989