April 24th, 2003; Leg 5, Day #4
It is nearly midnight now on Thursday, and
the science team is hard at work processing samples collected by ROV
Tiburon today.
During
the dive, Tiburon transected the southwest flank of the local ridge
crest that we explored on Tuesday. The seafloor was coated with loose and
fluffy sediments that were easily stirred up each time Tiburon
landed. Samples were collected at intervals up the flank using both the
push core and longer vibracore tubes. The sediments were soft enough that Tiburon's
manipulator arm could push the vibracore
tubes into the seafloor for a sample (see above), a necessary w
orkaround
as the vibrating motor of the system seemed to be functioning with
negligible power. One of the benthic
elevators was sent to the seafloor during the dive so that multiple
vibracores could be recovered (see right).
Tomorrow we plan to do a second, parallel
transect to today's dive track. This should take us up to another crest
where acoustic anomalies have been observed, suggesting that gas bubbles
vent from the seafloor here as well.
–
Debbie Meyer
