NSF-UNOLS Early Career Training Cruise Opportunity | East Pacific Rise 9° 50’N – December 2018

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NSF-UNOLS Early Career Training Cruise Opportunity East Pacific Rise 9° 50’N – December 2018 Investigating Volcanic, Hydrothermal and

Biological Phenomena Associated with New Eruptions: Using AUV Sentry Near-bottom Mapping and Alvin Diving

photo c/o Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

To: Early Career Scientists in US Universities (including, early career faculty and post-docs) From: Trish Gregg, Dan Fornari, Mike Perfit, Dorsey Wanless and UNOLS DESSC Committee (Anna-Louise Reysenbach) Date: April 9, 2018 Subject: Opportunity for Early Career Scientist (ESC) at-sea experience on RV Atlantis With Alvin and AUV Sentry at East Pacific Rise (EPR) 9 50’N – December 3-21, 2018 Applicant Requirements: UNOLS is seeking applications from early career scientists at U.S. universities who are interested in participating in an oceanographic research cruise that will continue an investigation of a chain of seamounts west of the East Pacific Rise at 8° 20’ N followed by a detailed survey the East Pacific Rise ~ 9° 50’ N that last erupted in 2005-2006. The cruise will take place aboard RV Atlantis Dec. 3-21, 2018, departing Manzanillo, MX and returning to San Diego, CA. The primary ECS objective will involve hands-on instruction on conducting deep-submergence vehicle-based field research. New faculty and post-docs are welcome to apply. It may be possible to accommodate graduate students; however, this will depend on the applicant pool and disciplinary breadth. A maximum of 10 applicants will be selected to participate on the cruise and others may be selected for

NSF-UNOLS Early Career Training Cruise Opportunity | East Pacific Rise 9° 50’N – December 2018

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shore-based collaboration as there will be daily ship/shore and reverse communications capabilities via increased satellite bandwidth on the ship for the cruise duration. Applicants should submit the following application materials via the following link by May 15, 2018. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2018NSF-UNOLS-East-Pacific-Rise-CSW You will be requested to upload a single PDF document that contains the following: (Note: PDF file should be named using the following format: “LASTNAME_ECSapplicant”) 2-page NSF-style CV 2-page letter summarizing your interest in participating in the ECS cruise. The letter

should include:

Your research background, including any previous cruise experience,

The type of data you are interested in acquiring that relates to EPR volcanic/hydrothermal processes,

The type of samples you would require for your work,

Whether you have existing funding that would cover sample analyses and/or your participation in the ~2 week at-sea cruise (including travel and salary). Note: Modest travel and cruise-related costs may be able to be provided for ECS participants.

Final decisions on applicant selection will be made by June 30, 2018. If you have questions about the application process or the cruise program, please send an email to the following program leads: Dr. Daniel Fornari: dfornari@whoi.edu Dr. Patricia Gregg: pgregg@illinois.edu Dr. Dorsey Wanless: dwanless@boisestate.edu Dr. Michael Pefit: mperfit@ufl.edu General Logistic Plan for Field Program: The ECS cruise will be primarily accomplished in the last 4 days on station during a field program led by Trish Gregg, Dan Fornari, Mike Perfit and Dorsey Wanless. The first 6 days of the cruise (tentatively Dec. 3-9, 2018), will be devoted to transit from Manzanillo, MX to a field area near 8° 20’N, west of the EPR axis to investigate seamounts that are the focus of an NSF funded research program. 4 Alvin dives and 3 Sentry AUV dives will be carried out at the 8° 20’N area. ECS participants will be involved in the field data acquisition efforts during the seamount dives to learn about how to plan and execute deep-submergence sampling and mapping using Alvin and Sentry; information they can apply to the EPR dives that will follow the 8° 20’N seamount work.

NSF-UNOLS Early Career Training Cruise Opportunity | East Pacific Rise 9° 50’N – December 2018

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On Dec. 9, the ship will transit overnight from 8° 20’N to the 9° 50’N field area and commence Sentry AUV mapping (3-4 Sentry dives are possible). The aim is to determine whether new lava channels are present indicating a volcanic eruption has occurred since the last known EPR eruption in 2005-2006 (e.g., Tolstoy et al., 2006, 2008; Cowen et al., 2007; Soule et al., 2007; Fundis et al., 2010, Rubin et al., 2012; Fornari et al, 2012; Tan et al., 2016). Based on real-time, at-sea analysis of those data (including possible shore-based analysis by some collaborators), 4 Alvin dives will be planned to focus on collecting site specific samples of volcanic rocks, hydrothermal fluids and chimney samples, and macro and microbiological samples in the 9° 50’N EPR area. Other types of sample acquisition and data collection will be considered based on the research objectives of the ECS participants and shore-based collaborators. RV Atlantis will arrive in San Diego, CA on the morning of Dec. 20, and a 1-day post-cruise ‘Science Forum’ will be held at a public venue in San Diego, in conjunction with colleagues at Scripps Institution of Oceanography that will include science presentations and an afternoon of public outreach and visits by the public to see UNOLS ships and deep-submergence vehicle systems. Background Information: The attached summary outlines the key aspects of recent EPR volcanism, the justification for suspecting that an eruption may have occurred since the last documented eruption in 2005-2006, and the types of studies that relate to volcanic and hydrothermal phenomena caused by submarine eruptions. Additionally, applicants should also refer to the 2012 Oceanography paper that summarizes EPR Ridge2000 research at the 9° 50’N area over the past few decades (Fornari et al., 2012; The East Pacific Rise between 9°N and 10°N: Twenty-five years of integrated, multidisciplinary oceanic spreading center studies. Oceanography 25(1):18–43)

ECSBackgroundSummaryonEPReruptions 1

1.Sciencemotivation:TwohistoricvolcaniceruptionsattheEastPacificRise(EPR)crestnear9°50’N~14yearsapart–1991-92and2005-06:hastherebeenaneweruptivephase?Duringthepast~15yearstherehavebeenmajoradvancementsinourunderstandingofmid-oceanridge(MOR)volcanic,hydrothermal,geochemicalandbiologicalprocesses,andtheinterconnectednatureofcausalphenomenainvolvedinoceaniccrustalgenerationandevolution.ThesenewguidingconceptsofMORprocesses,andhowtheyrelatetomagmaticandvolcanicevents,havebeennurturedandacceleratedbyfocusedstudiesatvariousMORsitesthroughtheRIDGEandRidge2000NSF-sponsoredprograms[Fornarietal.,2012–R2KvolumeIntroduction].Akeyenablingfactorthathasledtothenewinsightsarethetime-seriesnatureoftheexperimentsandrecordeddatathatenablethe4-Daspectsofthephenomenatoberesolvedandcorrelated.AfewkeyexamplesofthesenewfindingsrelatedtotheEastPacificRise(EPR)9°50’Nareaare(also-seetheextensivereferencelistattachedtothismemo):•directrelationshipsbetweentidaltriggeringofearthquakesandpossiblyvolcaniceruptions[e.g.,Stroupetal.,2007,2009,Tolstoyetal.,2008];

•relationshipbetweeneruptionvolume,lavachemistryandtheaxialmeltlensasimagedusing3Dseismics[e.g.,Carbotteetal.,2012;Gossetal.,2010];

•catastrophicimpactofmagmaticintrusionanderuptiononportionsofthehydrothermalplumbingasresolvedbytime-seriestemperaturerecordersinsomeofthevents(e.g.,M-vent),

•deducingwater-rockreactionzonedynamicsthroughtimeseriessamplingofhigh-Thydrothermalfluids;

•formationoflavachannelsasaprimarydistributionmechanismtotransportlavaeruptedintheaxialtroughouttoseveralkilometersfromtheaxis;

•recognitionoftheassociationbetweenH2,SandFeoxidizingmicrobesandseaflooreruptionsandtheintricatebiogeochemicalprocessesoccurringsubseafloorandwithinventchimneys;

•estimatesofheatfluxassociatedwithMORventingandpartitioningbetweenhigh-andlow-Tventing;

•andmanymoresignificantfindingsthathavepropelledMORstudiesintothe21stcenturyandhelpedfostertherecognitionoftheimportanceofobservatory-typestudiessuchasthosenowbeingcarriedoutbytheOOI-RCNatAxialSeamount[e.g.,Kelleyetal.,2014].

Inanefforttocontinuesomeofthetimeseriesexperiments,RVAtlantis,AlvinandAUVSentrywillconduct~4-daysofSentryAUVsurveyingandAlvindivingattheEPR9°50’NareatoinvestigatewhethertherehasbeenasuspectedrecentvolcaniceruptionattheEPR9°50’NISSsite[Fornarietal.,2012].Known,historiceruptionsatthissitearedocumentedtohaveoccurredin1991-92andagainin2005-06[e.g.,Haymonetal.,1993;VonDammetal.,1995;Greggetal.,1996;Tolstoyetal.,2006,2008;Rubinetal.,2006,2008,2012;andFornarietal.,2012andreferencestherein].Whiletherecontinuestobeactivediscussionintermsofthenatureanddurationofthe2005-06EPReruptions[e.g.,Tolstoyetal.,2006;Cowenetal.,2007;Rubinetal.,2006,2008,2012;Dziaketal.,2009;Tanetal.,2016],thereisnoquestioninregardstothedefinitive,mappingandobservational-baseddatasetsthatunequivocallydelimittheeruptionareaandemplacementmechanisms[e.g.,Souleetal.,2007,Fundisetal.,2010;Fornarietal.,2012].Oneofthekeydatasetsusedtocorroboratevisualanddeep-seacamera(TowCam)observationswastheresurveyingoftheEPRaxisbetween~9°48’-52’Nwithdeep-towedsidescansonar(DSL-120kHzsystem,WhiteandSoule,seeFigure1).Thosedata,at~2m

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pixelresolution,clearlyportraytheextensivenetworksoflavachannelsthatservedtodistributethe2005-06flowsawayfromtheaxialsummittrough(AST),wheremostifnotalloftheprimaryeruptiveventswerelocatedforallhistoric,documentederuptions.

2.Observationalevidenceforpossible“new”(post-2006)lavaflowsandre-activityofhydrothermalventingattheEPR9°50’Narea

BasedonobservationsandpreliminaryinterpretationsfromfourAlvinandoneJasonROVcruisetotheEPRin2013,2014,2016andSpring2017,itappearsthatpartsoftheASTinthe9°50’Nareamayhaveexperiencedrecent(i.e.,post2005-06)eruptions.ThesefindingsrelateprimarilytobothobserverandAlvinpilotassessmentsofthefollowingkeyenvironmentalparametersatthe9°50’Narea.

Figure1.Pre-andpost-2005-06eruptionDSL-120kHzsidescansonarimagesacquiredin2001(left)and2007(right),whichclearlydelineatethenewchannels(darkcurvilinearfeatures{lowreflectivity}–redarrowsshowmajorchannelareas)thatservedtodistributethe2005-06lavaflowsawayfromeruptiveventsintheaxialsummittrough(thinyellowline).SeeFigure5forareacoveredbythesesidescanimages.

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•NewLavaFlows?-Thereisevidenceforsuspected‘new’/recentlavaflowsintheASTbasedon2017AlvindiveobservationsbyG.Luther’sgroup(U.Delaware)intheTy/Ioventarea(seeFigures2-3forventlocations).BothobserversandAlvinpilots(P.Hickey)highlightedtheextremeglassinessoftheflows(corroboratedbyinspectionofhandsamplesoflavawithlustrous/iridescentsheenandpristineglass),andthatTy/Ioventstructuresarenolongerthere(i.e.,perhapsburiedbyrecentflows?).•High-TventingatBio9andPvents(seeFigures2-3forventlocations),continuetobeveryactivethroughspring2017,withlow-chlorinityfluidcompositionsat~50%seawatervalues(suggestingtheyarevapor-phase),hightemperatures(~370+°C),andabundantmicrobialanddiffuseflowontheventstructures(preliminarydatafrombothS.SievertandJ.Seewald–WHOI,andG.Luther–U.Delaware).Theseventsarethoughttodirectlyoverliemagmaticfeedersthathaveeruptedlavaduringprevioushistoriceruptions[Fornarietal.,2012].Whileno‘new’lavahasbeenobservedinthisarea,clearlytheventactivityandfluidtemperaturesandcompositionssuggestcontinued,directsubsurfaceaccessto‘hot’rockatshallowcrustallevels.•Mventfluidtemperaturehistorypre-2005,impactof2006eruptionandsubsequentreactivation-M-vent,locatedontheeastwalloftheaxialtroughoftheEPR(Figure1),

Figure2.Poage-datingfromsummarybyRubinetal.[2006,2008;2012]showinglocationofdatedsamplesfromthe2005-06eruption,andoutlineoflavaflowlobesfromobservationaldata[Souleetal.,2007;Fundisetal.2010](left).(right)samebasemapshowingextentandlocationofproposedSentryAUVsurveylinesfortheinitial24hrdivetomaptheEPRcrestoutto~1kmfromtheASTonbothsidesoftheaxis,overthemainareawheretheEPRhaseruptedpreviously.

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hasbeenmonitoredandsampledsince1992[Fornarietal.,1998a].Datafromanautonomousventfluidtemperaturelogger(HOBO™-MISOlogger–seehttp://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=17623)providethemostcontinuousrecordofventtemperaturebehaviorpre-andpost-eruptionfromApril2004tolateFebruary2006.

Figure3.(bottom)MultibeamsonarmapoftheEastPacificRise(EPR)axisshowinglocationofhigh-temperaturehydrothermalventsmonitoredusingHOBO™fluidtemperatureloggersandsampledusingtheAlvinsubmersible.Photosatleft(A&B)showtheactivityatM-ventin2004whentheMISOHOBO™hi-Tloggerwasinstalled.PhotoCshowstheHOBO™logger(redarrow)asimagedusingtheTowCamdigitaltoweddeep-seacamerasystemduringthe6NHNewHorizoncruisethatinitiallymappedthe2005-06EPReruption[Cowenetal.,2007].PhotoDshowsthelogger(redarrow)intheextinctM-ventchimneywiththenewlavasurfaceonly~50cmbelowtheloggerhousing.PhotoEshowsthelogger(redarrow)beingrecoveredbyAlvin’smanipulatorduringtheAT11-06cruiseinJune2006.Horizontalbarineachimageis~50cm.SeeFigure4forM-venttemperaturerecordduringthe2005-2006eruptions.

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Time-seriesmeasurements(recordedat36minuteintervals)showthatM-ventexitfluidtemperaturesdroppeddramaticallyfrom~360°Ctobelow152°CwithinafewhoursonJan.9,2006(Figure3).Thiseventpre-datesby~14daysanintensepulseofmicroseismicitylinkedwithonephaseofthe2005-06volcaniceruptionsinthisregionbelievedtohaveoccurredonJan.22,2006[Tolstoyetal.,2006;Dziaketal.,2009;Tanetal.,2016].High-temperatureflowatM-ventresumedonJan.24,2006,finallyreachingastabletemperatureof~380°ConFeb.18,2006,amarkedshiftof~20°Cabovepre-eruptionventfluidtemperatures[Fornarietal.,2012].Deep-seaphotodocumentationofthesurvivaloftheM-ventHOBO™loggerinMay2006andrecoveryoftheloggerinlateJune2006confirmedhydrothermalinactivityatM-vent.Newlyeruptedlavawasobserved~0.5mbelowtheloggerandsuggestsacausallinkbetweenmicroseismicity,ventbehavior,faunalcommunitycomposition,andvolcaniceruption(Figure3).

Figure4.HOBO™loggerdatarecordedat~36minintervalsforM-vent(bluelines)andQ-vent(redline)attheEastPacificRise(seeFigure2forlocations)between2004-2006.GrayverticallinesshowperiodswhenAlvinwasdivingatthesevents.GreenverticalbandsshowapproximaterangesforPo-datesdeterminedbyRubinetal.,[2008]forphasesofthe2005-2006EPRvolcaniceruptions.ThesteadyandhighventtemperaturesatMthroughlate2004andintoearly2005implyastableplumbingsystemandhydrothermalsource.TheloggerwasdisturbedbyAlvindivingattheventareainNovember2004,whichaccountsforthebriefanomalyintherecord,andthismayalsoaccountforthemuchlesspronouncedmid-March2005anomaly.AfterMarch2005,noAlvinorotherknownsubmersibleoperationsoccurredatthissitethatcouldhavedisruptedtheHOBO™record.Therearefour,additionalprominent

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anomaliesintheM-ventHOBO™data,likelylinkedtomagmaticperturbationstothehydrothermalsystemfeedingthisventcausedbythe2005-06eruptions.Twowererelativelyshortduration,sudden~50°CdecreasesinventtemperatureoccurringinAugustandOctober2005recordedonbothloggerchips.ThelasttwoanomaliesprofoundlydisruptedtheM-ventHOBO™recordandaresynchronousonbothchipsinthelogger.OnJan.9,2006,thetemperaturedecreasesfrom~350°-360°Ctobelow152°C,thelowerthresholdofthelogger’smeasurementrange.OnFeb.6,2006thetemperatureroseabruptlyabove152°Creaching376°Coveraperiodof7days.Thetemperatureresponserecordedbybothchipswaserraticforthefirsttwodaysinthisinterval,thenmonotonicallyincreasesforthenext4daysandfinallyplateausat~376°ConFebruary1,2006.Forthenext~10daysthetemperaturewasrelativelyuniform,butafterFebruary2,2006,itincreasessteadilyto~385°C.OnFeb.26theM-ventrecordstopsbecauseoflowbatterypower.WhenM-ventwasvisitedinJune2006therewasnoobvioushydrothermalflow.

M-ventwasrevisitedbySievertinJanuary2014.Whileitappearedtobeinactivecloserinspectionrevealedasmallareaoffluidflowemanatingatthetopofthestructure(Figure5).Themeasuredtemperaturewas35°C,however,itschemicalcompositionindicatesthatitmightbeahightemperaturefluidthathasundergoneconductivecooling(relativelyhighmethaneandlowsulfate)andpossiblyreactedbelowground.Sievertetal.believedthatwhileM-ventwasnotemittinghighTfluidin2014,therewasstillahigh-Treservoirsubsurfacethatwasbeingtapped.WhenM-ventwasrevisitedinMay2017bySievert,whitebacterialmats&filamentswereobservedontopofthestructureandthefluidflowappearedtobemorevigorous(Figure5,right).OnehypothesisisthatM-ventbecamereactivatedpost2014.

Figure5.M-ventstructure,topin2014fromSievert(WHOI)(left)andin2017(right)showingactivemicrobialmats/filamentscolonizingthechimneysurface,thoughttobecausedbyreactivationofthevent.

•Observationsat“TeddyBear”vent(justeastoftheASTat9°50.5’N,slightlysouthandeastofM/Qvents–seeFigure2forlocations),madebyS.Sievert(WHOI)over3diveprogramsin2013,2014andmostrecentlyin2017,suggestthatin2014thissitewascharacterizedbydiffuse-flowventing,withwhitestaining,fuzzycoatingofrocks(hencename),andsmokywater.In2014therewerenoanimals(seeFigure6).Atthetime,

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Sievertbelievedthatthissitehadrecentlybecomeactiveandhadnotyetbeencolonized.Thissuspicionwascorroboratedin2017,whentheyfoundthesitecolonizedbyRiftiawithasizethatwouldbeconsistentwithacolonization3yearsearlier.ThoseinvestigatorstakethisasstrongevidencethatthesitebecameactiveshortlybeforetheirvisitinJan2014,andthatbecauseofthespatialproximityofthesitetoM-ventthatthiscouldberelatedtosubsurfacereactivationofM-ventandincreased/sustainedsulfide-richfluidflow.

Figure6.TeddyBearvent(imagescourtesyofS.Sievert–WHOI),imagedin2014(left)whenthesitewasdiscoveredandconsistedofactivediffuseflowandwhitemicrobialcoatingonlavasurfaces,andrightin2017,~3yearslatershowingyoungriftiacolonizingthediffuseflowcracks.