Dive 3344 - 3 Feb 1999

Ken Rubin (port side) transcript

Observers: Ken Rubin and Ken M,

Pilot: Steve Faluotico

 

Audio Tape 1 of 1 - Side A
Time X Y Heading Depth (m) Comments
0946 100m off bottom on descent
0955 2779

Landing site:

Bulbous pillow lavas with delicate glassy ornaments, age 1-1.5, substantial dusting of sediment, few small pockets here and there. Some pillows broken up in the forground, has internal "ledges".

1000 sedimented pillow forms, bottom slopes away to port, view not as clear as on starboard. Ken M. figures age 1.5 or so, maybe even 2.
1010 4893 12430? very near the landing site, looking to sample pillow bud. Pillow forms in view, definite orange staining on bottom surfaces, dusting of sediment on tops.
1017 same same Sample 3344-1 - small pillow bud, basket 1a. fine dusting of sediment on it when it was sampled.
same same Sample 3344-2 - small pillow bud, basket 1b. Slightly larger version of sample 1. I got better view of this one as it was coming aboard. Fine dusting of sediment on it when it was sampled.
1021 leaving station 1 traversing to way point 2, moving up a pretty steep slope, seeing large pillow form with a collapse in it and a drainout of lava.
1026 3794 11361 lots of beautiful pilow forms ornamented with small budlets, some pillows are elongated, stretching as much as 3-4 m; ~ 0.5 m accross, on our traverse to WP2. Same sediment cover as at landing site or possibly a bit lighter. Rare lobates as well.
1030 3880 11302 Continuing upslope traverse, sedimented pillow forms, staining in cracks, limited biology here, few anenomae (?, kindof groovey fish, some bio floaties.
1035 3823 120 steadily climbing slope for last 15 minutes, have reached top of slope (coming up onto axis). Age is same (~ 1.5). Elongated, stubby and bulbous pillow forms present.
1039 bad bad 120 2714 Now on summit; looks to be same material as on flank. Bulbous pillow forms, light to medium dusting of sediment (age 1-1.5). Sub at 3m altitude above ridge ~300-400 m away from WP2.
1043 4206 11122 250 m from WP2 (misspoke on tape and said WP3) up over the axis, elongate pillow forms nice striations, fine dusting of sediment, ornamented buds present on most pillow surfaces.
1050 4303 11054 2775 100 m from WP2 (almost completed traverse), very uniform material on the entire traverse.
2 minute blank spot in tape (accidentally left on "Play")
1052 4342 11031 2780 traversed into a new terrane, rough flow surfaces, lobate forms. This area of jumbled terrane is very localized. Port side view 10 - 20 m away I still see pillow forms.
1052 to 1056 same Sub then flew over a small pit (~ same sediment cover) in a localized area of sheet flows.
1056 to 1058 bad bad 2790 to 2792 At WP 2 back in pillow terrane with buds. Looking for sample site 3.
1103 bad bad 2788 Sample 3344-3 - into basket #4, having trouble with NAV. Asked ship to record this point on the nav track.
1108 bad bad 2787 Underway to WP3 in pillow terrane. Localized areas of sheet flows with jumbled, broken up surfaces.
1112 4354 10999 252 2773 Traverse to WP3 climbing up a small pillow mound, looking to take another sample.
1113 4325 10995 2762 Still climbing pillow mound, similar dusting of sediments, ornamented pillow forms, relatively small bulbous pillows, not seeing as many striations on surfaces, similar age as what we have been seeing up to this point.
1117 bad bad 2743 Still climbing pillow mound, starting to see more elongate forms to port side but still fairly bulbous, lots of ornamentation, thin dusting of sediment, really very homogeneous terrane has been observed to this point on the dive.
1119 bad bad 2733 In pillow area, pockets between them are "budutopias" (full of buds, budlets, and softball-sized pieces of pillows extruded from the pillows themselves). Very little sediment.
1122

bad

(5340)

11729

(?)

266 2717 Still climbing pillow mound, fixes are really not good.
1123 4079 10835 2715 Pillow forms at the summit.
1129 4064 10404 2716

Sample 3344-4 - basket #7,

pillow fragment an intact but fractured pillow ~8cm in length, has horizontal staining on interior most of the way down from the glass surface. 2 Dig photos taken.

1134 261 2719 Underway for ~3 minutes. Just crossed over thin fissue, looks a like collapsed, jumbled surface on the flows underneath, mostly seeing pillows, slightly less sediment dusting, can see shimmering off glass surfaces of pillows, good striations, both elongate and bulbous pillows. Now have the impression that area near WP2 was somewhat more sedimented.
1138 5108 11890 2715 Up on the axis, seeing pillow forms, sparse but prominent white staining in cracks looks sort of hydrothermal or from flow cooling. Have only seen it here near the axis.
1141 3784 11953 2725

At way point 3. Homogeneous looking terrane, pillows and pillow mounds, some lobates here and there. Will modify dive track to head to WP5 rathern than WP4 to take us more down along the axis until we hit the expected boundary with sheet flows.

Really looks like age 1 here.

1148 3845 10684 163 2710 Relatively flat terrane, less relief on the sea floor. Mostly lobates but still seeing occasional pillows with good striations. All have thin dusting of sediment on them. Seeing glistening of glass off of surfaces.
1151 3882 10609 Lower relief lobates, looks relatively young. There is a small fissure evident, looks like a drainout from a collapse with a jumbled surface morphology inside.

1153

?

(mis-spoke 1159 on tape)

3881 10574 2708 On location at site for sample 5. Similar to other locations we have sampled thus far, kicking up a little bit of sediment at the site, limiting visibility somewhat. At crest of mound with both pillow and lobate forms in the flow. During traverse to this location, there was a general consensus in the sub that the morphology had changed somewhat to a lower relief sea floor surface with fissures and collapses. Age 1. Significantly greater amount of white staining on lavas, broken up surface (talus?) sitting at the edge of a pillow that has broken apart.
1154 3880 10591 2705 sample 3344-5 - went into basket 5a. It is a small glassy bud taken from a pillow mound construction near an area of broken up talus.
1214 3956 10400 2699 Transitioned into an area of smoother relief lobate flows, still some occassional pillows but generally smoother terrane.
1222 3971 10383 2700 Looking for sample 6 in an area of gentle relief, lobate to sheet flow forms, some brown and white hydrothermal staining is evident on lavas. Interesting sheet form visible close to the port side porthole ~1m x 1m dipping down a fold on a lobate flow.
1226 same same

sample 3344-6

crust of 4-5 cm thick from the upper crust of the collapse of a lobate flow, we are sitting in the collapse pit, very large sample (20 to 30 cm by 15 cm).

1230 2701 Underway again to WP5. Low relief flows, interesting flow structures on surface, lineaments on sheets going in a variety of directions.
1234 4015 10470 309 2700 Traversing the "semi-contact" between lobates and sheets. Quickly passed over a sheet flow and are now in primarily lobates again. Very fresh looking here, lots of glistening surfaces, can see ornamented buds off to the port side. Attempting to take sample number 7.
~ 1235 same same same sample 3344-7 - Into basket #7. Crust from a drained out lobate flow. Small sample broken up in the claw.
1245 340 Underway again. Walking out contact between lobate/sheets and lobate/pillows.
1246 4017 10455 2699 Transition into greater amount of sediment dusting on all of the lobate surfaces, whitish stuff in cracks (possibly hydrothermal in origin).
1252 4325 13484 2700 On pillowy side of the contact, more sedimented, much older looking material, nice elongate pillow forms. In a transition zone between flow types.
1300 bad bad 350 2700 Seem to be very close to the contact again. Port window sees dominantly lobate forms, that are elongated, almost going at heading 350 as well, fairly sediment down in the cracks between forms. Then we moved a few 10s of meters and were back into pillows again, with lots of complex ornamentation. Contact between the two is transitional and sinuous
1304 to 1307 4566 10974 2702 Sample 3344-8 - into basket 6a. 3 pieces taken from same pillow bud. Pillow bud form, extensive amount of white hydrothermal alteration on the inside, greater at margins but extends into interior, radial fracturing. Fairly glassy upper surface.
1310 bad bad 177 2699 Ken M sees contact on starboard side.
1316 4102 10046 173 2717 In transitional zone again between pillows and lobates. Got lobates off to the port side and pillows off of the starboard side.
1319 4125 9974 171 2717 Following the contact between pillow forms and lobates. Fairly significant slope down to port side, can see lobates in the distance and pillows beneath the sub. Can see some buds on pillows. Gently going up hill. Transition at this location comes in a break in slope. Lobates are deeper down to port side.
1328 4231 9714 184 2706 Consistently seeing pillow forms for last 5 -10 minutes. Traversing south to WP5, presently 160m away. Decided to make for WP6 at this point. Alt 5m above bottom.
1337 244 2694 Traversing axis again, moving upslope. In pillow terrane again, lots of elongate forms with bread-crust striations, some pockets of lower relief lobates. Possibly somewhat lighter sediment cover.
1338 4047 9563 247 2693 Back at transition zone between pillows and lobates. Back in lobates for a brief while but then quickly returned to pillows. Top of axis. Mesotech shows relatively flat profile.
1342 bad bad 2684 Pockets of lobates evident but primarily seeing pillows.
1344 3895 9460 Moving back and forth between pillows and lobates. Much younger. Less sedimented, hydrothermal staining is again evident. Going to change to a more southerly heading and bipass WP6 on 240 heading.
1346 3870 9434 2682 Saw nice collapse in a lobate flow. Confirmed that this locale is somewhat less sedimented than pillow terrane.
1347 3839 9400 2683 Lava channel observed on starboard side, rubbly, jumbled sheet flow beneath port side. Very fresh looking (<1 to age 1).
1350 3829 9397 2686 Sample 3344-9 - into basket 6b. 2 pieces, one is larger, more pillow like with radial fracturs; other is more sheet-like. Both have lots of folding. Fresh and glassy.
1355 182 Underway again Edge of lava channel is just beyond the transition from pillows to lobates.
1359 3827 9331 174 2682 Following lava channel, came up over the edge, seem to be following a very flat sheet flow with strong lineations running off into the distance, somewhat parallel to the sub's heading seen on the port side. Very little sediment cover but there is a fine dusting. Jumbled flows on the starboard side.
1403 3827 9231 130 2678 Big collapse in lava channel that we have been following, drops down maybe 8m. Jumbled/folded sheets in the bottom of the collapse. Outside of the collapse, lobates can be seen out port side. Can see sheets off in the distance.
1408 3840 9206 2680 Sitting in a collapse. Very fresh material, Keeps breaking up in the sampling claw. Platty stuff from rim of collapse. Small folds on sample.
1408 Sample 3344-10 - deposited in the same basket (#8) as sample 6. It may have broken into a couple of pieces. It is smaller than sample 6. Believe sample 6 is intact in this same basket. Few chips from sample 10 may have also fallen into baskets 5a and 5b.
1420 3814 9030 186 2675 Off port side are sheet flows in the distance. We encountered another broad collapse feature. Folded sheet flows on the edge; bottom is jumbled sheets. Continuing on, we see small zones of very folded (ropes and braids) sheets in some areas, others are extremely flat. Small collapses are seen everywhere.
1422 187 Still see collapse margin on port side. Handful of pillows in the area. Crossing roughly perpendicular to striations on sheet flows. Although not to far back we were going parallel to them, so it seems that there is local variability to this.
1425 3810 8766 195 2677 Traversing another channel in lobate/sheets. A very wide sheet flow can be seen trending off at about 270. It has some jumbled surfaces, but in general it is wide and smooth. Little sediment cover/fairly fresh. Rare lobates here too.
1427 1981 ? 8294 2675 Intensly folded terrane, drappery folds. In a small area inside lobate flows. Traverersed to out of levy into lobate forms. Also saw Couple of pillows with good striations on the surfaces.
077 Heading back to lava channel, and then going to try and follow it at 090.
1432 3865 8721 090 2679 Encountered lava channel again. We are on west side of the axis.
1435 (3921) (8749) (2687) Sample 3344-11 - went into basket 9; taken in jumbled flow in lava channel. Very fresh. 2 pieces, folded sheet flow (tape out)

Audio Tape 1 of 1 - Side B
Time X Y Heading Depth (m) Comments
1435 3921 8749 2687 Sample 3344-11 (continued) - went into basket 9; 2 pieces, folded sheet flow.
1443 3947 8795 2689 jumbled sheet flow terrain, flows, ropes, lots of relief on flow surface
1448 3826 8816 2689 outside of sheets and channel; lobate lavas, rare pillow forms w/buds; more sediment, age 1.5.
1457 3609 8880 172 2692 lobates, lots of sediment cover, age =2? almost like max sed cover at landing site, rare but nice pillow forms here. Within a minute we are now transitioning to predominantly pillows. We have gone back and forth fairly frequently
1500 3575 8890 2695 lobates again.
1501 3575 8890 older, more sedimented pillow/lobate terrane. Looks similar to terrane at begining of dive; location fix the same for a while (no good?). Looking for a pillow bud or fragment sample to compare compositions to those at sampling site 1 (samples 3344-1 and 3344-2).
1505 3575 8890 2698 Sample 3344-12 - went into bio box (basket#2). Single pillow fragment from sedimented terrane (age 1-1.5). ~6cm long in biggest dimension. We now have a full load of all geological samples and are very proud of ourselves.
1511 ? ? 2703 back in the lava channel, nice picture on downward looking video being recorded.
1513 ? ? Off Bottom