Alvin Dive 3359, 20 Feb. 1999
R. Batiza (port obs.), Milene Cormier (stbd obs.), and Steve Faluotico (pilot)
R. Batiza Transcript

 

Abbreviations:

 

TIME DEPTH HEADING COMMENTS
~0800 Alvin launched
0812 384
0820 542 (0818L fix: x=-2355, y=-15760; ~100m south of target)
0834 1012 199 doing 360° CC spin for magnetics calibration- did two spins
0849 1515 117 x=-2325, y=-15671, 75m to target on 020
0912 2268 121 x=-2380, y=-15632, 86m on 068 to target
0916 2412 147 x=-2401, y=--15625, 104m on 076 to target, EC will use stbd camera which has frame count= 158.
0922 2575 079 A-34.1; driving toward target, 113m west of target.
0926 2567 A-41.2, trimming; x=-2430, y=-15628, 133m on 078 to target
0928 2573 081 A-33m, drive 080 about 100m to target.
0934 2597 079 A-14, bottom in sight on SIT camera- can't make out what it is; Steve started Alvin and 3C video, started EC, Mesotech
0935 2600 080 still can't make out bottom.
0937 2611 078 lobates on bottom, age ~1.0. Stopped on bottom to adjust PT view (down function on PT inoperative)- adjusted so that sampling can be seen as well as possible.
0939 2610 079 recording PT on Alvin video. Nav not good.
0940 2610 114 looking for sample site. Steve got fix that put us within 5m of target. Put WP-2 into computer. Bottom is L, with a small amount of sed- age about 1 or less. Just dusting on top, no ponds in lows. Shiny glass surfaces. Small white objects on L- limpets?
0942 2610 180 anemonies on L- looking for sample site.
0943 2610 192 L are quite large with large- up to 3-4m across, disrupted crusts on some. buds on some. No lineations. Large white anemonie.
0945 2610 182 stopped sampling. PT is getting good view.
0947 2609 241 Going to steer 252 to get to WP-2 uphill. Difficult to find easy samples. Now there are small collapses ahead and to port.
0948 2609 277 looking for sample site. Collapsed L have BTR in them, but not all of them. Good collapses- one in front, another 3-4m away on port side.
0954 2610 247 stopped sampling.
1003 2609 252 sample 1, BP-8, large piece of L. x=-2317, y=-15625; time-0951, digital still #1.
1004 252 u/w at 0.5 kt- over L with collapses, age ~1 or less. Collapses 2-3m in size, roughly circular, and spaced irregularly every 10-15 m. These have no BTR.
1005 2608 253 to WP-2, collapses frequent in L. depth to bottom of collapses is about 1m. rattail.
1007 2607 253 uphill on L.(Steve says looks flat). Here is a P over L.- now more P, about 1-2m in size with buds. same age as L. Also see old HT debris- looks like decaying sulfide or clay crusts.
1008 2604 253 Large pillows coming up (3-4m), over L. P mostly rare, but now more abundant. Local relief of 2-3m. mostly L, but lots of P ahead, and getting steeper- many buds, some tubes.
1009 2599 253 now almost nothing but P- we'll try for sample. Steeper on P slope, uphill
1011 2598 303 very glassy P. same age as L: 1 or less.
1013 2598 306 x=-2544, y=-15713, WP-2 476m on 253.
1020 2598 286 sample 2- BP-1a, P bud; Digital still #2, #3. x=-2543, y=-16402,
1021 2596 257 u/w on 253 to WP-2. P look maybe a little younger than L, but could be the shape effect- less sediment on more rounded flows.
1022 2592 255 over P with buds- many. Still some L also. P come and go- back into L w/o P- same age, maybe slightly younger than landing spot but not certain- tiny difference. small collapse in L on left, BTR in sides. flying octopus swimming around. HT staining- L with rare P on top.
1024 2589 coming around to back over an apparent contact with younger pillows. Contact with younger P, x=-2627, y=-15740; 389m to WP-2, on 254. Younger P, much blacker and glassier than others- less sed.
1028 2590 251 Drove back over to older L to drive over contact again. Yes, it is contact, age difference is not large but clear. Old HT nontronite (?) in lows of L.
1029 2589 257 now in L, which are younger than before- darker, less sed. these are the younger ones- Age difference more marked for P.
1031 2589 255 definitely into younger L, but still some sed. spaghetti- try to stop and get sample.
1032 2591 268 on young L-x=-2697, y=-15785, 310m from WP-2 on 258. stopped sampling.
1035 2591 289 stopped sampling- sample 3- x=-2700, y=-15784, BP-9 (actually behind basket on platform), digital still #4, much spaghetti, must be near axis (closeness of WP-2)- very fresh L.
1038 2591 stopped at edge of collapse- goes down 3-4 m- sampling sample 3. BTR on walls of collapse.
1046 2590 257 u/w on 257 from sample site. over young L. some tops are wrinkled- beautiful! Galatheid crabs. A=2m, Lobates.
1048 2596 256 (must have passed over axis- now deeper- Alvin/seabeam correction is 26m based on depth of axis- 2620-2615m on seabeam and 2589m Alvin). passed L, now over P- the young ones. Now on west side of axis- mostly P.
1050 2600 257 x=-2934, y=-15828, just passed contact onto older L, about 152m from WP-2 on C-262. Total width of young flow is small (about 300m- see map).
1051 2603 260 back on old L
1052 2605 235 we will turn and go to WP-3, now that we crossed the contact. old L. we will steer 128 to WP-3.
1054 2605 127 stopped to get sample of older L to check for symmetry with sample 1. L with buds. sample 4, time-1055, BP-1b, x=-2913, y=-15869, digital still #5, sample is lobate bud.
1101 2604 129 u/w axis- we will bypass WP-3 and go to WP-5 once at axis, then follow south 190 or so- to save time.
1103 2600 126 on L with fissures- passed one with orientation hard to tell- walls not straight.
1104 2599 125 just passed contact onto young pillows, x=-2835, y=-15932, A=4m- in young P, with some L.
1105 2597 131 Steve sees much HT staining. I see it now. Orange material between P, in lows. very fresh P. also some L.- extremely glassy flows.
1106 2595 130 A=4m, still climbing
1106 2593 145 A-3m, over very young L- front of flow is always P, whereas center is L. Diffuse flow HT site, many serpulid worms, field is north of Mk 4 field- not known.
1108 2590 145 large diffuse flow area. many crabs- galatheid ones. 3-4m deep collapse on port side. rocks are covered w/ HT stuff- pretty large area- ~50m wide- no mussels. many serpulids, brachiurin and gal. crabs., all L. reddish stains on all rocks.- Steve says it is flat- axis?
1110 2591 c/c-190 to WP-5- axis is very young L- age 0.5 or so. diffuse flow field is slightly on west side of axis.
1111 2592 213 many fish, now on P.- very young- uphill along axis., c-186
1112 2593 186 very young P., now mixed P and L- very young. c-190- local relief is 1-2m- L with P on top of L.
1113 192 x=-2816, y=-16098, 459m on 190 to WP-5.
1114 2591 192 very nice L, young. age ~0.5, no P along axis.
1115 2594 194 EC frame count on stbd is 364.
1116 2595 222 on way to WP-5, will stop for sample.
1117 2597 sample 5, BP-5a, pillow bud, x=-2834, y=-16159 (400m on 190 to WP-5), digital still #6, L with rare P on top, at axis.
1125 2592 193
1126 2591 190 to WP-5, young lobates with HT staining. Fissure off to left.
1127 2591 192 parallel to fissure 1m wide. cuts lobates- not deep (less than 2m)
1127 2591 191 on L. fissure gone. young L- age 0.5, but not as young as before- maybe older? Steve says it is very flat. Nav not so good.
1129 2591 193 over L. with buds. rare P every now and then. Spaghetti. little spots, A=3m, nice L, with buds and small collapses.
1130 2593 190 x=-2860, y=-16332, WP-5 is 222m on 190.
1130 2593 193 P now at axis. many buds- very fresh bulbous P, 1-3m some smaller.
1132 2594 190 rocks have suddenly begun to look older- contact with older flow ?. Milene has fissure on stbd side. These rocks look like age 0.7 (intermediate between young and old).
1132 2592 199 on P, Milene has fissure still on stbd side. local relief is 2-3m- not as young as previous P- age intermediate. Kipuka? Directly over fissure- on SIT, HT staining on fissure. also on port side.
1133 2591 202 Steve says fissure branches. Stopping to change tapes- both Alvin and 3C. Fissure is 1m wide, 4-5m deep. Truncated P and L in fissure walls, spaghetti. L here, age intermediate (0.7?), but maybe because of HT activity? several parallel fissures here.
1136 2591 201 changed tapes, over fissure- we'll try to follow it to WP-5- only about 100m away. Then we'll do E-W crossing to measure width of flow.
1137 2592 179 fissure ended, across L -look younger than before.
1138 2592 181 over P now, back to being younger looking.
1139 2592 191
1140 2594 149 Steve thinks we are near WP-5. nav not great. x=-2878, y=-16600, 55m on 336 from here to WP-5- we passed it.
1142 2595 104 We will go east to get contact. Have not seen Mk 4 HT field.
1143 2598 076 on P age ~0.5 age; Steve says it drops off in front. A=3m
1144 2601 339 we will come around to head west. Passed the contact only about 30m from axis (at most).
1144 2599 c/c 270
1145 2597 275 young P, back on young P-crossed contact. now onto L.
1146 2595 273 mostly L with rare P.
1147 2594 273 on young L. near WP-5 stop to get sample.
1149 2596 sample 6, BP-5B, digital still #7, x=-2924, y=-16584 (42m on 036 to WP-5), pillow bud
1152 2596 329 got sample. pillow bud.
1153 2594 270 try to get to contact of young flow to west. young L with occasional P, spaghetti, quite a lot- on most P., a bit of rubble- collapsed pillows (imploded).
1154 2594 265 headed down hill, on L, age 0.5. crab (brach.).
1157 2594 090 changed to side B of audio tape. (must have gone over contact and changed course).
1159 2593 096 passed a marker -detergent bottle with stick and three balls on stick, with Japanese characters?. EC frame count 451. Fresh L., x=-2894, y=-16601, WP-6 194°, 1648m range.
1201 2593 196 at axis on lobates, c/c to 194. to WP-6, we expect young flow to end in a few hundred meters. now in P, fish. many buds.
1201 2592 197 A=2m, Steve sees anemonies, L on port side- pretty fish. Many galatheid crabs and golf-ball shaped animals- maybe a type of dandelion? (Cindy). very shiny glass, spaghetti. nice L- Steve sees collapse ahead. Now I see collapse in lobates, 2-3 anemonies per square m.
1203 2592 196 across fresh L- golf ball creatures. in H2O above bottom, and many close to rocks.
1204 2593 194 large older pillow (kipuka?). now onto L and pillows- some large. looks a bit older than before. Crossed contact into older material - about 150-200m from WP-5 (?). x=-2931, y=-16765, 1481m to WP-6, on 194°. Contact. now on older L with rare P. looks pretty flat D-2595, age ~0.7.
1206 2595 197 P and L, mostly L, bulbous pillows on top. anemonies. P and L look same age.
1207 2595 196 back on L. age 0.7.
1211 2593 196 more L. alternates with P over L. nav poor, speed about 1 kt.
1212 2591 194 on L with a few spherical P, and tubes, local relief 2-3m., age 0.7, fresh and glassy. fissure on stbd side, Steve sees also.
1213 2589 193 on L. passed fissure on stbd side. now small fissure on port side. a few cm wide cutting L. several narrow cracks, with white staining. flat L ahead. speed 1 kt.
1214 2588 194 young L. nav poor.
1215 2588 195 L, still no nav. several cracks- now a fissure.
1216 2586 227 came across local high that looks fault-bounded. vertical walls, little drop off- rock rubble.
1219 2591 084 surface of L with cracks around strange vertical feature- came around to have a look at the vertical wall. It is uphill on heading of 352 (not reliable).
1220 2592 300 Wall is N-S, heading 285. getting good 3C of wall.
1223 2589 200 heading to WP-6. Strange features appear to be vertical pillow ridges with vertical sides (not true)- pillowy flows on vertical walls are actually locates that once flowed on horizontal surface- they are vertical slabs. Two together like sandwich and broken surface at top. Correspond to side-scan ridges- tops are fractured.
now a fissure in P. Pillow inside fissure- can't tell if it erupted there or fell into crack. Truncated P in wall of fissure- not eruptive- looks tectonic. L here look as old at landing site- age 1.
1225 2589 196 Fissure diverging- must be closer to N-S in trend. spaghetti worms.- Steve says that walls look pushed up. we're going uphill again. Jumbled rock. Fissure. HT staining, L.
1226 2589 194 much spaghetti. rocks look fresh compared to before. Two parallel fissures here. HT stains, L in section. Another wall ahead of Steve.
1226 2590 211 another pillow wall (wrong). very steep walls. Looks uptilted, like flat L surface uptilted. Uptilted wrinkled sheet flow on outside surface of vertical wall. Strange feature, talus on sides. It has cleft at top in middle.
1229 2587 188 looks like tumulus, with central cleft at top, wrinkled lava on outside surfaces, tilted 70-80 degrees. Folded sheet flow. This looks more like tumulus- previous one described as pillow wall could also be (probably is). symmetrical.
1230 2588 233 try to get sample from top of tumulus.
1235 2590 201 sample 7, BP 3a, D-2589, time- 1233, digital still #8, rock rubble from near top of tumulus. resume course to WP-6.
1238 2589 166 nav no good. spaghetti worms- HT area.
1239 2591 196 this may be HT site Spike. many fish, fissures, spaghetti- P on top of L.
1240 196 surface vector to WP-6 is 750m on 196. near where we thought we were. x=-3137, y=-17506, 713m to WP-6 on 198°. across L with fissures, 0.5 wide- many fish, spaghetti- Lobates look 0.7 in age- not young. Another fissure along track. P on top of L. Fissure is 2-3m deep, 1m wide. L and P. Fissure is headed more N-S than our track. now on L age 0.7.
1242 2590 196
1244 2592 195 onto P. pretty fresh. last fix puts us 100m north of little patch of young lava from Argo.
1244 2594 195 on L, with HT stains. EC frame count is 543.
1246 2594 196 over L. anemonies, P before. L look like age 0.7
1247 2593 192 Steve has uphill ahead, large P over L. nice pillows- fairly fresh.
1248 2591 194 on big P here. local relief 2-3m. buds. some L also (more rare). Pillows onto lobates, age 0.7
1249 2591 196 stopped to get sample. time 1251, sample 8, BP-3B, position ~200m north of WP-6, digital still #9, piece of bud. P over L here.
1306 2594 200 collected sample. c/c 194. over P with buds., mostly pillows. x=-3242, y=-17993, 215m on 196 from WP-6. This is ~30m north of sample site.
1308 2594 197 big P with buds. stalked crinoid. cracks in L. age 0.7 or so.
1309 2594 198 over large P, 3-4m local relief, some tubes. anemonies. speed ~1 kt- we're about 150m north of WP-6, still haven't seen patch of young lava from Argo.
1311 2596 197 back on L, with rare P. Steve is following a fissure. small cracks on port side P. anemonies.
1315 2596 198 fix from surface says we passed WP-6 by 60m. transponder fix says same thing. x=-3328, y=-18255, 61m on 027 to WP-6.
1315 2595 018 looking around for WP-6
1317 2593 044 water is murky, P below, Steve sees uphill ahead
1321 2597 258 vector from surface 50m on 250 to WP-6 (unreliable).
1323 2599 270
1326 2594 359 uphill over P and L. Looking for Mrs. Wormwood HT site. previously saw fissures and spaghetti, but nothing HT here now.
1327 2594 015 at local high- on P.
1328 2594 just passed dumbo octopus with round head and tentacles straight in front. fish and anemonies, L with P on top. age 0.7.
1329 2593 012 up over P. still uphill on P.
1330 2590 012 slightly uphill on L and P. anemonies, cloudy water (our own debris).
1333 2592 193 still can't find HT site nor fresh lava. now on P with buds. some L.
1336 2594 189 x=-3330, y=-17998, 1822m on 189 to WP-7, last fix puts us north of WP-6, large fish. On L
1339 2594 190 just changed tapes in Alvin and 3C video players.
1340 2597 191 over P w/buds. EC 654 frame count. more P
1341 2599 191 P, uphill
1343 2595 189 on P. a few fish, but not much HT stuff.
1345 2591 191 on P. still no nav.
1348 2596 188 speed 0.5-1 kt, on P age 0.7. some hollow and dripping.
1351 2597 c/c 270 we will try to go 270 to find axis- maybe we are off axis?
1354 2591 127
1356 2596 113 190°, 1100m to WP-7 from surface
1357 2593 190 over P. some spaghetti. Steve thinks we are at HT site, water is cloudy. local relief 2-3m. fish.
1400 2595 346 looking around for HT activity, we are near Hobbs HT site.
1401 2593 000 syntactic marker #32, Steve sees black smoker. Probably Hobbs HT site.
1403 2594 008 at marker 32 at Hobbs HT site- three large sulfide structures. black smokers, crabs, spaghetti, (no mussels). digital still of smoker #10.
1405 2592 021 c/c190 leaving Hobbs. large L and P, anemonies and crabs. still near Hobbs, serpulid worms. Large N-S fissure. driving over diffuse flow- like the first site- no mussels.
1406 2591 189 A=6m, over P. some cracks, many buds.
1408 2591 162 stop to get sample of pillow with buds. sample 9a, and 9b. These are bud samples from the same locality. 9a fell into BP 5b by accident, so collected another (9b) -put in BP- 6a, digital photo #11. ~100m south of Hobbs.
1418 2589 207 collected sample 9a- will try for another one.
1425 2590 190 collected 9b. two pieces from this locality. Will resume c-south.
1427 2591 192 P with buds. some cracks on P.
1429 2589 190 up a little P mound- pillows 1-3m across- large. age 0.7. no animals. starfish before.
1431 2589 187 over P with buds. power is low. try to collect one last sample.
1433 2591 191 over P, with buds. 1-2m across.
1435 2592 199 stopped sampling- sample 10, BP 3a, pillow bud.
1453 2587 252 collected sample 10. now over L. c/c to south, now onto P again.
1454 2588 194
1455 2592 196 A=5m. spaghetti P and buds, large L, also. limpets.
1456 2591 west serpulid worms and crabs, anemonies, fissure 1m wide, 2-3m deep. N-S trend. another fissure 0.5m wide, 1.5m deep. another fissure. large anemonie.
1458 2591 west
1459 2592 338 out of HT activity, just P, fissured. some P huge 3-4m across.
1501 2590 A-7m -dropped weights.

 

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