26 February, 1999
Stbd Observer: John Sinton
With Rodey Batiza and Pilot Bob Waters
Launch Position:
Time Depth Hdg
~0815 Alvin in the water
0847 1044 Maggie spins in water column; 1 deg/sec, spinning counter-clockwise.
0942 2605 17 m off bottom. Beginning approach.
0945 2617 084 8 m off bottom. Sediment covered pillows and lobate
lavas.
0947 2620 310 Pillow lavas and some lobates. Some buds and striations
on pillows. Lavas uniformly covered by sediment with some pockets
of sediment in deeper areas and on flat surfaces of lobate lavas.
0952 2620 Still looking for place to sample
0955 2621 Sample #1. Bud from pillow, about 25 cm long
with good glassy rind. X=2675; Y=-1833.
Heavily budded pillows, locally elongate down slope from west.
0958 About 500 m from WP2 at bearing of 324.
1000 2612 322 Moving obliquely uphill, seeing elongate pillows.
1002 2611 323 Pillows look a bit glassier here and no obvious
pockets of sediment. Some lobates mixed in with pillows.
1003 2610 325 Lavas become more lobate here as slope decreases
slightly. Few pillows, but mostly lobate.
1005 2608 325 Lobate lavas, some slightly collapsed. Sediment
maybe decreasing uphill, but still quite a bit present. Many
surfaces are completely covered. Huge shrimp.
1007 2607 325 Mostly lobate, with a few pillows. Some lobes are
collapsed down _ m or so.
1008 2606 323 Pillow flow as slope angle increases.
1010 2598 324 Still on steeper constructional pillow slope.
1012 2596 322 Becoming more lobate but still mostly pillows.
Fewer buds and not as many as previously. This gives way to dominantly
lobate lava with 30-40 cm-thick lobes.
1015 2593 Lobates, locally collapsed into pits 2-3 m across,
~ _ m deep.
1017 2591 323 Seeing a younger lobe of pillows on earlier-formed
lobate lava; both sequences have a similar sediment cover. It
is still mostly lobate here, however.
1020 2588 327 Here we have a younger-looking pillow flow that
definitely appears glassier, with very glassy buds. Age here
about 1.5.
1023 2586 Looking for place to sample. Locally very well budded.
1029 2585 Sample #2. Piece of younger pillow flow.
1033 Still in sample locality, which is close to WP 2. Going
to head for WP 4 at a bearing of 295-310.
1034 2584 295 Just heading off. Fairly glassy pillow flow; age
~ 1.5, with good buds, locally kind of flattened.
1037 2583 297 Lava has become lobate here, without buds. Glassy
surface but with significant sediment on it..
1040 2581 296 Contact with younger lava flow, age ~ 0.5. Younger
pillows on older lobate. This flow becomes lobate very quickly.
1043 2580 Looking to sample pillow flow with patchy sediment
distribution.
1052 Still looking to sample. Mixed pillow and lobate; pillows
have good buds.
1106 2583 293 Sample # 3. Bud from pillow part of younger
flow.
1109 2579 308 Lot of white staining on lobate lavas; fewer pillows
here. Some flakes of glass lying between lobes, suggesting that
some spallation occurred from the lava.
1111 2577 307 Getting even flatter lobates here, almost sheet
flows. Quite a bit of staining along cracks in this lava
mainly white but also some orange staining. This lobate lava
gives way to a stratigraphically higher pillow flow.
1113 2575 307 Budded pillows, but lobates on port side. Many
are stained along cracks. Pillows are about 1 m in diameter.
Some lobates also present here
1115 2572 306 Now definitely in lobate lava. Lobes are 2-3 m
across, low-lying.
1117 2571 307 Another flow unit of very glassy pillow lava that
has already given way to lobate lava.
1119 2570 308 Very flat lobate lava here. Very glassy lava.
Then come into a collapsed area with bathtub rings. Collapse
is about 2 m deep. Then another one about 4-5 m across and 2
m deep. Then a major collapse structure with pillars and bathtub
rings. Pillars are very broad with connecting roofs. The floor
of this structure is lobate lava, almost sheet lava.
1123 2571 At WP4, a collapse zone in lobate lava lake. Hanging
out attempting to reboot computer. Collapse zone is 4-5 m deep.
Floor contains lava between lobate and sheet, but more like lobate
in most places.
1128 2571 203 Turning south toward WP5, probably following along
axis. Collapse zone is discontinuous here.
1130 2570 209 More or less following collapse zone at this bearing.
Floor is lobate lava. Zone has pillars with pillar debris around
them. Floor locally folded sheet lavas.
1136 2571 207 Collapse zone ends here.
1137 2571 205 Minor collapse here but main zone is no longer visible.
Instead we have lobate lava with patchy sediment. Many rocks
have white stains along cracks.
1139 2571 206 Pillows with very glassy buds, locally very bulbous
and with good striations.
1141 2569 207 Should be about 400 m from WP 5 at a bearing of
about 210.
1143 2570 207 Still in pillow lava with excellent buds. This
flow is very glassy.
1145 2568 211 Now gone back into lobate lava, with very few buds.
Very glassy flow with white staining along cracks.
1146 2569 208 Back into pillows locally. Mostly this is transitional
between pillows and lobate; here it is slightly more lobate than
pillow.
1147 2569 208 Now back into more pillow lava with lots of glassy
buds. Some crabs around.
1149 2569 208 Lobate lava with some pillows around. Fine dusting
of sediment on this lava. Mixed pillows and lobates. Several
crabs.
1152 2570 211 Glass pillow lava with lots of buds. Very large
buds in some places. At least a meter of relief on this flow.
1154 2567 209 Pillows are giving way to more lobate lava. There
is a lot of staining along cracks in this lava. Not many pillows
here, but there are a few. Still seeing lots of crabs and also
some dandelions.
1156 2567 211 Back to some heavily budded pillows here. Very
large buds. This gives way right back into lobate lava. Lots
of staining.
1157 2567 Surface says we are just (less than 100 m) east of
WP5. Turning west and this takes us up slope. Probably have
been just on the east side of the axis.
1158 2566 287
1200 2565 284 Coming up slope. Seeing lots of life around, anemones,
crabs, fish, dandelions on lobate lava.
1202 2564 292 Still going up slope. Now seeing spaghetti worms,
bacterial material, dandelions, anemones, and then we begin to
see a collapse structure ahead of us. Turbid water here. Even
more biology on far side of narrow fissure, about 10-15 m across.
There are serpulid worms on the rocks there.
1206 2565 264 Starting to swing back around to west after going
through a mostly dead zone of diffuse flow. There are still a
lot of worms, crabs, anemones and many many dandelions around
here. Lavas are lobate. Doing a big circle.
1207 2564 160 Lobate lavas with a lot of biology on them.
1212 2565 In anemone field with lots of spaghetti worms around.
1214 2564 291 Moving toward an extinct hydrothermal chimney with
lots of brown hydrothermal sediment around. This chimney is something
like 8-10 m high but it appears to be dead.
Just came across an even younger lava flow, one that appears
to be younger than the hydrothermal activity because it does not
have hydrothermal sediment nor vent biota on it. It is pillow
lava lying on lobate lava that has a lot of hydrothermal sediment
and biota. Very black glassy lava.
1228 2567 Sample # 4. Location about 130 m west of
WP 5. [WP 5 is 130 m on a bearing of 030]
1234 2568 Sample # 5. Sample of lobate cruse on which
the younger pillow lava lies.
1238 2568 273 Beginning to move off after sampling. Turning to
WP 6. Can see younger flow below us.
1240 2565 280 Moving along contact after being in older flow for
a bit. Here just crossing into younger flow unit. We quickly
go out of the younger flow and into slightly older unit with worms
and other stuff on it. Can see more than one paint bucket here.
1244 2565 280 Back on lava that is transitional between lobate
and pillow. There are still a lot of anemones and dandelions
here.
1245 2567 There is an increase in anemones and crabs and stalked
animals here.
1246 2569 280 Can see some shimmering water here so we are still
in a diffuse hydrothermal zone.
1250 2568 Did a complete loop around to stbd (clockwise). We
are about 50 m from WP 6.
1251 2569 274 Getting deeper and becoming more pillowed. Still
some anemones and crabs here but fewer than before.
1253 2570 276 Deepening. Lavas here are mostly lobates.
1254 2572 277 Flows have become strongly pillowed with lots of
glassy buds.
1257 2578 284 Seem to be in same lava with patchy sediment on
it. It is very glassy.
1259 2578 286 We are about 275 m from WP 7 at bearing of 275.
1300 2579 270 Lavas become more lobate for a while but there are
still several bulbous pillows without buds near here.
1303 2585 Just crossed contact of younger pillows lying on older
lobate lavas. Older lavas have sponges on them.
1306 2587 Sample # 6. Crust of older lobate lava.
1309 2584 000 Swinging around to move off along contact. The
older lava changes to pillow lava.
1311 2583 Found the younger flow which is coming down the hill.
1312 2583 242 Moving more or less parallel to contact.
1313 2583 215 Still on contact, which gives way to mostly old
stuff on stbd side. Then pick up younger lava again.
185 Contact bends to more southerly direction. There are several
fingers of young lava that come down the slope here. Contact
trends about 220 here with local tongues that trend more westerly.
1313 2583 199 Old lobates on stbd side and in front. We go 132
and then find it so bend back to right. Some of these tongues
are no more than about 3 m wide; others are somewhat wider.
1317 2583 255 Here there is a bigger lobe of younger lava. Moving
right along contact here which trends between SW and due west.
1319 2584 175 Contact has moved south again.
1320 2586 210 Going to move off more directly toward next way
point (8). We currently are over only older lava and not seeing
the younger flow. We are about 450 m from WP 8 (bearing 225).
1322 2586 222 Just crossed the contact briefly into younger lava.
1324 2584 251 Still in younger lava which is mostly lobate lava
here, almost sheet. There also is a local collapse here; possibly
this part of a channel.
1329 2592 249 Now in older pillow lavas. Are just passing out
of the younger lava into older pillows.
1331 2594 Have old lobates on stbd side.
1333 2597 Have age 1.5 lava here, locally trending off toward
age 2.0.
1337 159 Glassy pillow flow but still old stuff. Have turned
to SE.
1338 2600 135 In pillow lavas that are quite glassy but with a
uniform covering of sediment. Age = 1.5. Some of these lavas
are trending to lobate lava, and in places it is almost sheet
like.
1340 2596 135 Lobate lava with uniform sediment covering. It
is glassy lava. Sediment covering is not exactly uniform but
the patches are large and connected.
1342 2591 135 Good pillow slope that has steepened up quite a
bit. Good buds and striations.
1344 2587 134 Have now crossed into the younger lava with very
patchy and thin sediment on it.
1346 2587 In younger glass lava, looking for place to sample.
Younger lava cascades down the hill. It is is very glassy, budded
pillow flow. Have been driving sort of more toward WP 10 than
WP 9.
1356 2588 Sample # 7. Large piece of younger pillow flow.
On a fairly steep slope.
1358 2586 120 Moving toward WP 9. Very young pillow lava here.
1400 Surface says we are about 500 m from WP 9 at a bearing
of 120.
1401 2584 121 Just moving off now.
1404 2578 125 In young lobates with some sheet like lava here.
There are a few small collapses here.
1406 2577 125 Now back into pillows. There are several thin units
varying from pillow to lobate.
1408 2570 133 In lobates, many of which are slightly collapsed.
Maybe some even younger flow units present here but this is quite
uncertain.
1410 2568 Just crossing a folded sheet flow channel. This turns
into a smooth sheet that is slightly lineated.
1411 134 Still going up sheet flow channel, and then it bear
off to the left and we move back into lobate lava.
1413 2564 133 Climbing up through primarily lobate lava. Very
flat lobates here, no thicker than 30-40 cm.
1414 2561 132 Several meters off the bottom. Glassy lobate lava.
1415 2563 Just crossed the edge of the axial trough. It is about
8-10 m deep here at least. Mesotech indicates it is about 10
m deep. Spectacular bathtub rings and pillars.
1417 2564 205 At top of trough.
1421 2564 239 A top of trough more or less. Trough is at least
10 m deep here. We have moved out into the center of the trough
and then over to the western wall. Large caves leading off axis
out of the trough.
1424 2562 200 Out over Aldo Trough.
1427 2562 199 Near the eastern wall of the trough. Bottom about
12 m below us. Spaghetti worms on the tops of some pillars.
1451 2564 Finally saw what is left of Papa Noel. Now completely
covered in hydrothermal sediment. There is a large sulfide edifice
that has grown up just to the north of Pillar de Neige and this
has showered yellow hydrothermal dirt all over the place. This
edifice is still smoking weakly around its base but the towering
spires are apparently not actively venting now.
1452 2563 268 Leaving Papa Noel site and heading for WP 11. Still
over the axial trough, which is about 10 m deep here.
1454 2563 269
1456 2564 269 Coming out over lobate lavas with small patches
less than 10 cm across on very glassy lava.
1458 2564 264 Glassy lobate lava.
1500 2567 279 Lobate lavas with patches of sediment.
1503 2569 267 Still in lobate lava here although there are some
pillows on the port side.
1504 2568 271
1505 2570 270 Some small collapse a few meters across here; also
some white staining on fracture surfaces.
1507 2572 270 Starting to see some buds on the lava and some pillows
are present here. Still mainly lobate with some pillows coming
in.
1509 2574 269 Lava has turned into a highly budded pillow flow
with pillows up to 2 m across. Some patches of older lava beginning
to appear in small kipuka.
1511 269 Moving right along contact here between younger and
older lava. Submarine is over the younger lava with older lava
on the stbd side.
300 Going over a piece of older lava, close to contact. It
is a sheet flow, at least locally. Elsewhere it is lobate.
1515 Back on young lava; sampling.
1518 2579 Sample # 8. Bud from younger pillow lava. X=249;
Y=-2704.
1520 Weights away; leaving the bottom.
PAU