Alvin Dive 3346 - 5 Feb. 1999


Matt Heintz (pilot), R. Batiza (port obs.), and K. Gronvold (stbd obs.)
R. Batiza Transcript

Abbreviations:

 

TIME (L) DEPTH (m) HEADING
~0800 Alvin launched
0831 1051 doing 360° spin for magnetics calibration
0839 1027 doing spin
0840 1078 completed 360° spin
0852 1496 x=1376, y=1753, 182 meters on 285° to target; checked film in HH, audio rec, and HHV.
0917 2390 236 x=1349, y=1889, 174m on 239° to target
0925 2643 233 A-75m, right on target; x=1226, y=1823, 35m to target
0928 2711 234 A-12m, bottom in sight, P age of 2 to 2.5, still indistinct
0929 2720 250 A-5m, trimming
0935 2725 284 at the target sampling, difference between Alvin pressure depth and sound depth is ~20-30m. (2745m sound depth vs. 2725m Alvin depth).
0941 2725 305 sample 3346-1 pillow bud in BP 1a. Good fix on position in sample form. 3C is on, Alvin video on, EC on, on 30 sec rep. rate., HHV and HH photos of sample site.
0943 2724 060 u/w to WP-2, obliquely up slope; even coating of sed on pillows and interconnected small sed ponds. Age 2-2.5. P are 1-2m in size with abundant buds, especially on sides and near bases. Many trap door P, and downslope tubes, but only 3-4m long, not long, multiple parallel tubes.
0945 2722 058 good 3C, shiny glass but sed dusting. Some P tubes are long 5-6m, but most are smaller. Mostly large bulbous P. red crinoid. There is slight downslope current but no ripples on sed. although it is thick enough to be rippled if current strong enough. There are also lobates present and P appear to be erupted onto L.
0946 2715 061 Some L passed over before, now mostly P. 1-1.5m with many buds.
0949 2709 058 WP-2 is 056, we will head for it. bottom is P, sed thickness decreasing, age now 1-1.5. a few filter feeders on P. e.g. sponges and crinoids. Many buds on P edges. local relief on slope is 5-6m caused by pillow topography. Locally flat also.
0951 2715 057 still in P with age of 1.5, white crinoids and sea pens every 10m or so. No loose material or talus.
0952 2712 056 Matt turned on large white light on stbd side. Large P, looking for the next sample site. Buds really abundant on the sides and bases of large bulbous P.
0954 2709 094 stopped sampling, good 3C and PT of sample locality. HH flash does not operate, try HHV.
0955 2709 057 sample 3346-2 in BP 1b, pillow bud. Good 3C picture of it. Continuing obliquely up slope across large pillows. Age (sed) decreasing very slightly as we go up slope. Anemonies. no sed ponds, just a dusting-very shiny glass. local relief is about 2-3 m, with 5-6m relief on a 10-20m scale. Some downslope tubes, but mostly bulbous.
0959 2705 057 S-16m/min (~1 kt). Getting to flatter L, like at landing spot. Fish. Flat L, 3-4 across. large amoeboid L, light sed. dusting, shiny glass, so striations. About 10m from where lobates appeared, Mat saw FSF; we will try to sample. contact between P and L/FSF.
1000 2702 083 FSF, not JSF, many nice folds about 10-20 cm in height. Local relief of 0.5 m.
1004 2702 030 Too silty so Matt moved the sub. Still in FSF. Previous contact between P and L/FSF was indistinct- no stratigraphy, just a sudden change in surface lava type.
1006 2703 039 frame count on port EC is 086. Stbd is 423- not being used.
1012 2703 024 stopped sampling. Nice fold in claw; digital still of it, moving it to basket. HH flash still not working. Good HHV, 3C, EC, and PT though. sample 3346-3
1014 2701 056 u/w from sample position 3., x=1546, y=2083, D=2697, a 5-8 meters NE of sample position.
1016 2697 back on P with lots of buds.
1017 2696 056 S- 1kt, P w/buds. Matt thinks FSF looked younger than P- seems so, not based on sed cover, but rather on the basis that it appeared suddenly, like a rootless flow.
1018 2694 057 now back onto L, out of P. appears to alternate back and forth. Nice trap doors on these pillows. But there are also L in view, without obvious stratigraphic relationship.
1019 2694 055 Now back into L- large "turtle back" amoeboid ones.
1020 2693 057 x=1646, y=2157; still on L going obliquely up hill.
1022 2691 057 S-1kt. Still on L, age 1-1.5.no sed ponds, just thin dusting- shiny glass. Anemonies. Tubular downslope L. some small buds.
1023 2689 059 dropped down about 1 m on port side- more L in depression. On far side to port are BTR- small collapse surrounded by L, bottom is covered with rubble. about 2m deep, 3-4m across. Now into P overlying JSF. On port side there is another small collapse, rubble on bottom, L and P on edges. L on port side and L and P on stbd side; P on top of L (Karl's comment).
1026 2686 059 moving up slope, alternating between P and L; also on stbd side. Collapse feature was linear oriented ~E-W. Fish, more L, with age ~1. thin sed, shiny glass. Quite a few anemonies and crinoids, more biology. Fissure ahead.
1029 2684 059 stopped over a fissure with dead clam shells around. Fissure is 030° and about 0.5m wide. large (50 cm ) pink anemonie with long tentacles. More dead clams in bottom of fissure (about 1-2 m deep).
1031 2684 passed fissure, into P. could be fairly near top (axis) although nothing is extremely young.
1033 2679 057 another fissure. x=1874, y=2318; about 20m beyond dead clams. Back into L, passed another fissure about 3m back (third). Now another fissure leading into a collapse., 2-3m wide. The fissure has no lava dripping over edges. This is fissured terrain, mostly L. L have small fissures also (10-20 cm across) also. A large fissure now, with thin-bedded lobates at top and more massive material in the lower portions. Fissure is 7-8 m. deep and massive material has a "spray-crete" textured surface with no layering evident. Fissure 5-6m wide. will stop on other side for sample. Bottom covered with rubble, with a central "horst"-like ridge.
1036 2680 095 stopped sampling at the NE edge of fissure. sample 3346-4.
1040 2677 064 x=1932, y=2359, A-2m heavily fissured terrain. Fissure gives way to large collapse with BTR, L on edges, thin sed. dusting. collapsed lobates- collapses up ahead. Small collapse to port, 3-4m across, 2m deep, all L, age 1 to 1.5. Closer to 1. A few sea pens, and anemonies, and little trees with globular almost transparent spheres at the ends of the branches. Flat L with local relief of ~1m.
1042 2676 063 x=1982, y=2388 still going across lobates, w/small collapses (less than 1m), collapsed L with shelves. Up ahead is large fissure (collapse?), just nipped edge, closed off to SW. BTR in sides, 5-6m deep. P or L at edges, nothing dripping down edges. Compound fissure with branching morphology- appears to be part fissure and part collapse, with rubble between branches. Collapsed L. no pillars, rubble on floor.
1048 2672 058 x=2121, y=2475, A=3m, passed HT staining, still on L, age 1. still small collapses, with fissures- here is one ~2m wide, 2-3m deep, with rubble at bottom. Crabs, more fissures, fish, fissure of 1m width, 2m depth, rubble at bottom, still in L.
1050 2671 059 passing deep fissure, HT staining, fish, 5-6m wide, 8m deep, thin flows in walls, spaghetti. Crabs. Karl sees an inactive chimney on stbd side.
1053 2671 063 passed extinct HT site, x=2200, y=2526, focus on HHV not good, can't get in focus (view too dim). Still on L, many animals, age is 0.5-0.7. less sed. than before. collapsed L, with shelves.
1055 2671 061 no obvious CTFM targets. 3-4m wide fissure. 7m deep, L on sides and rubble in bottom. Crabs on lip. Fish.
1056 2675 060 ~200m to go to WP-2 (fix). Younger lava , age 0.5, with spaghetti, crabs, FSF.
1057 2676 CC to E contact between FSF and L. Matt trying to sample both. Stopped sampling. L first
1059 2679 sample 3346-5 in BP 5b, is L next to FSF which appears a bit younger.
1105 2678 x=2318, y=2592. no contacts on CTFM. Sample 3346-6 (FSF)- in BP 3 (w/scoop) FSF. u/w to WP-2, ~200m on 060°.
1110 2679 061 FSF, and JSF, 153m to WP-2, age 0.5 JSF. The FSF and JSF alternate in small patches. Local relief of 2m. JSF appears mostly in lows, with FSF on local highs- makes sense as folds would pile up on gentle slopes?
1112 2683 062 continuing over FSF, no more fissures. S- 1kt, over SF and FSF, age 0.5, relief of 0.5 to 2 m locally. JSF appears on and off. Getting good 3C.
1114 2685 x=2447, y=2671, 60m to WP-2. still on FSF. Collapse on stbd side and much biology in front (Matt comment). Collapse now on port side also. It is a step up (we have been in low).
1115 2685 Serpulid worms, crabs, no shimmering water, but looks recently active. Many anemonies. Matt sees shimmering H2O.
1116 2687 112 Matt sees mussels, zoomed in on 3C to look for live ones. Shimmering water. mussels are alive but not abundant.
1120 2688 117 Temp 4.4° with low temp probe.
1123 2688 117 stopped sampling at HT site. sample 3346-7. (end side one of audio tape).
1131 2686 010 looking for more mussels, here. Karl got fix on sample site. Many serpulid worms, fairly extensive hydrothermal site (but extinct now mostly).- probably not high T, since no chimneys. Patch of biology was 6-7 across, many anemonies. Now onto P lava, with buds, looks a bit older, with younger (sed cover) lobates surrounding them. Contact between P and L. we are at WP-2.
1133 2688 056 FSF
(1135) 2688 NNW 825m to WP-3 on 341°, Many different types of flows at WP-2, FSF, L, and P (oldest), others, younger. u/w 340° to WP-3.
1136 2688 342 uphill back up toward axis. just passed another extinct, low T vent. Red nontronite crusts litter surface- no animals. L and FSF alternate back and forth, also JSF. several crabs, crinoids, rattails, much biology, FSF.
1138 2687 passed contact onto lobates, but just a different facies or phase of same-age material. L are a small patch and looks like L came out on top of FSF, but could be local complexity? Mostly FSF in lows and L on highs. Appears we are going gently uphill, now over FSF, age 0.5-1, no sed pockets, highly reflective glass. JSF occurs on 1-2m scale mixed in with FSF. Collapse pit here, BTR in walls. Crabs.
1140 2685 343 across FSF after small collapse, with lineated SF in floor (small channel?), now back into L, same age as FSF. Very shiny glass.
1141 2685 350 stopped to get sample. Sample 3346-8. P on top of L here. P have many buds, C/C 334° over L and P. Outcrop of collapsed L with overlying P. This is stuff we try to sample.
1149 2677 345 A=5m, u/w 345° over P and broken pillows. Saw a broken hollow pillow with a lobate pillow going through the broken part and flooding it. Very neat. Karl sees more fissures on stbd side.
1151 2677 341 over L, and FSF. passed over collapse lobate 3-4 wide. Also P are here. FSF ahead, very fresh, near L and some lobates have folded tops! Clearly intermixed facies, FSF amid L. Now a flat LSF, flowing down hill, then a curtain FSF canoe in the midst of the LSF. Maybe a levee? (not clear). Crabs. LSF, possibly ropy? very smooth and flat. Not ropes, rather upward projecting mini-ridges on the sheet flow. The lineations are E-W (approx.). Karl sees fissures here.
1153 2676 locally E-W LSF, was 10-15m wide, now FSF, then LSF again. lineations across track (E-W). Back to L. 328°, 900m to WP-3 (surface). Now collapse feature, with rubbly bottom, BTR, lobates at edge. Big collapse off to post side- rectangular, 3m x 4m, like a sky light. Lobates are all collapsed.
1156 2676 327 FSF and L, more L here. Galatheid crabs. Matt sees another collapse ahead. Beautiful LSF across track (E-W lineations), now FSF, spaghetti and anemones here, another collapse w/spaghetti (a lot). BTR on sides. Stained. Collapse is fairly linear (N-S), could it be fissure? (Karl says it is definitely fissure).
1159 2677 326 S-1 kt, spaghetti, collapse, L. must be close to axis.
1203 2677 saw flying octopus about 1m across- Mat has caught them before.
1204 2675 331 coming up out of big collapse. 327 is frame count on port side EC.
1208 2670 331 across collapses and L. Karl saw HT staining. Now on collapsed L. not many fissures, many collapsed regions, 1-2m of local relief, sed dusting, age 0.5 or so.
1215 2676 331 x=1958, y=3700, 115m on 330° to WP-3 on L. coming off the axis a bit. now about 50m from WP-3, mostly pillows with age 1-1.5. Now 36m to WP-3, P and L, age 1-1.5; 14 m to WP-3, we'll try to sample.
1221 2688 293 stopped sampling at WP-3. L and P, age 1-1.5
1229 2683 071 sample 3346-9, in BP 7, 2 pieces of a single rock.
1231 2682 060 u/w going over L, age 1-1.5.
1233 2680 059 FSF, not L anymore, look a bit younger. also JSF. A collapse to port, ~3-4 m deep, with L, age 1. P now, on top of FSF, BUT, some of the pillows appear to turn into lobate flows along strike of tube- lobates coming out of pillows. Mostly L but some FSF- going slightly up hill NE. More L with buds.
1238 2674 060 more collapsed L, with shelves and small collapse zones. Age 1., less life- a few sea pens. No fissures yet.
1239 2674 059 big collapse, 6-7m deep, BTR, no pillars. a few sea pens. L at edges. Now there are pillars, in a small collapse, out in the middle of it.
2673 depth would be ~2700 on the chart, so probably near axis again. Out of collapse now, just L, some with folded wrinkles on them, the lateral-perpendicular to flow direction type.
1242 2676 059 P with buds, amongst L and collapse stuff. BTR.
1244 2675 061 more L. age 1, headed to WP-4.
1245 2676 359 stopped sampling in L, sample 3346-10. 409 is frame count on the port side EC. recording PT on Alvin video. 3C has nice photo of sampling of lobate crust.
1253 2673 x=2314, y=4016, lobate crust in BP 8. about 400m from WP-4. u/w on 047°.
1254 2675 053 L on bottom, shiny glass age 0.5 to 1. Collapsed L. C/C 051°, L with rare ripples on surface.
1256 2675 050 over a collapse, with pillars, BTR, FSF on the other side, step down. on FSF, very nice.
1257 2676 050 L after collapse, another collapse structure, with BTR. FSF at bottom of collapse. Pillar ahead. CTFM test.
1259 2679
1305 2679 testing CTFM
1316 2679 sample 3346-11, top of pillar in BP 9, sample 3346-12, middle of pillar in bio box, sample 3346-13, bottom of pillar, also in BP 9. Good shots on PT.
1321 2679 three additional pillars nearby.
1322 2675 052 u/w toward WP-4. about 200m to go. The collapse was floored by nice FSF, now back up onto L toward axis, NE.
1326 2675 collapse region with many pillars. JSF at bottom. with LSF oriented ~N-S. Now in FSF. age 1-0.5, also collapsed L. Another collapse feature w/pillars and an arch, with lobate on top. More pillars at edge. The area that is less fissured (to north) is evidently more collapsed. About 50m to go to WP-4.
1331 2677 stopped sampling, lobate crust in basket position 3. this is sample 3346-14, also in BP 3 is FSF. about 5 min ago, changed the video tapes in both recorders. EC frame counter is 501, most HH roll is used.
1335 2674 350 u/w from WP-4 to WP-5, roughly north from here. x=2603, y=4273, 500m on 010° to WP-5, on L, collapsed L, and collapse features.
1342 2676 009 LSF with lava whorls- lineations are 340° and associated with FSF, although not distinct levees. no collapses here, LSF only.
1344 2672 011 more collapsed L with FSF at bottom, 2-3m deep.
1347 2672 collapsed L, looks like Animal Farm flow (as it has throughout the dive near the axis). Matt sees signs of old HT activity ahead. Rubble at bottom of collapses. Anemonies. Another collapse on the port side.
1349 2672 007 more extinct HT activity- white staining on rocks, also yellow staining. age 0.7-1. L, spaghetti, more L.
1350 2670 009 more L and spaghetti. looks like the area Sinton described from the southern part of his dive (first dive). More L. Large collapse on stbd side and less on port side- nice pillars. very irregular in shape, rubble in the bottom. Crabs. BTR, collapsed lobates with shelves. We are inside collapse feature (Matt).
1353 2669 000 50m to WP-5, try for sample there.
1406 2671 stopped sampling. (end of tape). sample 3346-15.
1412 2666 091 headed east, goal is to go about 1 km to the east to sample.
1416 2666 091 A= 15.3m
1425 2663 093 A=52m, driving east
1432 2673 091 A=57m, 871m due east of WP-5, x=3570, y=4825, EC frame counter 626 (port), 423 (stbd).
1438 2730 on bottom sampling- pillows and lobates similar to start of dive. sample 3346-16, x=3599, y=4827, 900m from WP-5, EC frame count= 702, lobate crust. Did long test of CTFM.
1504 2728 092 moving further west
1513 2739 stopped sampling, sample 3346-17, pillow bud, x=3706, y=4816
1513 dropped weights, on the way to surface.

 

 

Sample list 
Sample	   time	   depth*       X         Y	          Lat.               Long.            description
3346-1	0938	2725	1193	1816	18°41.98	113°25.32	pillow bud
3346-2	0955	2709	1411	1985	18°42.07	113°25.19	pillow bud
3346-3	1012	2701	1546	2083	18°42.13	113°25.12	folded sheet
3346-4	1038	2680	1932	2359	18°42.27	113°24.90	lobate
3346-5	1059	2679	2318	2592	18°42.40	113°24.68	lobate
3346-6	1105	2678	2318	2592	18°42.40	113°24.68	folded sheet
3346-7	1123	2688	2467	2673	18°42.44	113°24.59	sheet flow
3346-8	1143	2685	2451	2816	18°42.52	113°24.60	lobate
3346-9	1229	2683	1900	3800	18°43.05	113°24.91	lobate
3346-10	1245	2676	2314	4016	18°43.17	113°24.68	lobate
3346-11	1316	2679	2446	4099	18°43.22	113°24.60	pillar (top)
3346-12	1317	2679	2446	4099	18°43.22	113°24.60	pillar (middle)
3346-13	1318	2679	2446	4099	18°43.22	113°24.60	pillar (base)
3346-14	1331	2677	2603	4273	18°43.31	113°24.51	lobate
3346-15	1406	2671	2700	4800	18°43.60	113°24.46	lobate
3346-16	1438	2730	3599	4827	18°43.61	113°23.95	lobate
3346-17	1513	2739	3706	4816	18°43.61	113°23.89	bud
							
* depths are Alvin pressure depths