(via: NOAA Ocean Explorer)
(photos: Deepwater Canyons 2013 - Pathways to the Abyss, NOAA-OER/BOEM/USGS)
Monday, May 13, 2013
Discovery of a New Deep Chemosynthetic CommunityDeepwater Canyons Project Science TeamAfter several days of lost dives due to bad weather and making dives
under difficult conditions, we are today in calm seas exploring an area
that was discovered last year during a NOAA mapping cruise. While
conducting a seafloor survey, NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer found bubbles
coming from the seafloor at a site south and offshore of Norfolk
Canyon; they thought these bubbles may indicate a new methane seep site,
but they had no way of verifying this idea. Today, we deployed the Jason remotely operated vehicle (ROV) from the NOAA Ship Ron Brown
to 1,600 meters (nearly a mile deep—our deepest dive yet!) to explore
the area around those bubbles. After transecting over soft sediment for a
short time, we saw some indications that we were getting close to a
probable methane seep. These indications included white patches of
bacteria on the sediment surface that feed on the methane and sulfides,
plus shells of dead mussels, which are the dominant animals of methane
seep communities…
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