Exciting findings from the deep
23.07.2008 Today the wind is more calm, and the ROV and the gravity corer can be operated. In the early morning the macrobiologists got a box core from the the "Troll wall", and so we went to the caldera area to get some gravity cores. In Soria Moria we were supposed to collect another set of samplers that has stayed there for 2 years, and also put out a set of remedies (plastic discs ++) to collect small animals. In the afternoon both the macro- and the microbiologists could presentate some interesting findings.
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The day started early, since we lost a lot of time yesterday, and there is still some work to do. From the the "Troll wall" the macrobiologists got 2 box cores which they sorted for small animals. Then we went to a caldera area in the south west to collect some gravity cores. Unfortunately the ground was too hard for coring, so Agata got only cores of 30-40 cm, but it's much better than nothing.
In the Soria Moria area they have previously seen white smokers, and they had also set out a set of samplers 2 years ago to collect on this cruise. We should also set out a set of remedies for collecting animals, like we did monday. The ROV went down fully equipped, and on 750 meters we could see pillow lava, whitch is formed by quick cooling of lava in connection with subsea volcano eruptions. While the ROV is looking for the samples to be collected, we see beautiful medusa heads and sea anemones.
The next task is to measure the temperature inside a chimney. It's difficult to move the probe steadily, so it knocks the whole chimney down! Then it can take samples of sediments and the white sulfur mats instead. And a gas sample for Marvin. On the way up and down we see a lot of crescent shaped organisms in the water. Andrey means that it has to be planktons filtered together and falling towards the bottom, getting that shape because of the mass; they are thickest in the middle.
Now almost everybody has work to do; the macro- and microbiologists are studying the sediment, the chemists are analysing the water, and Marvin is looking for gases. Our portuguese friends are still waiting for sediment cores and chimney material, but by accident there is a little top of a chimney in one of the box cores from this morning. Alvaro is then happy; that means that the box core was taken in an area with hydrothermal vents. The macrobiologists have found blind amphipodas and other species that are not or hardly previously described. Possibly because they were found in an area with sulfur, not with iron oxide. Lisa has taken a photo of a white snail with a tuft of sulfur threads on its shell, and Tim has made a preparate of a sulfur bacteria millimeters long!
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