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Karen
Von Damm
Principal Investigator
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Check
the
research log...
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Funded
by the National Science Foundation,
Division of Ocean Sciences
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Follow
UNH professor and researcher, Karen Von Damm, and her crew as they
join the R/V Atlantis on leg 6 of voyage 7 on this Woods Hole Research
Vessel . . .
R/V
Atlantis
Voyage
7, Leg 6
Destination:
East Pacific Rise;
21°N latitude;
9-10°N latitude
January
6
—
February 10, 2002
The
Research Crew
A note about the crew . . .
"While
having graduate students on such expeditions is not unusual,
it's unusual for an undergraduate student to make such a trip and
is another example of the research opportunities available to UNH
undergraduate students that are not offered at other institutions."
- David Bartlett, Associate Director, EOS
Karen
Von Damm,
UNH (faculty, researcher, PI)
Rachel Gallant, UNH (grad.
student)
John (Jack) Loveless,
UNH (undergrad. student)
Cheryl Parker,
UNH (lab tech.)
Kate Buckman,
WHOI (recent Smith College grad.)
Timothy Shank,
WHOI (asst. scientist)
Diane Poehls,
WHOI (grad. student MIT-WHOI)
Ellen Avery,
USGS (recent UCDavis masters' grad.)
Matthew J. Severs,
Colby College (undergrad. student)
Beth Dushman,
Colby College (undergrad. student)
Eric Olson,
UWashington (technician)
Kevin Lilley,
UWashington (undergrad. student)
Kang Ding,
UMinn (research faculy)
Dionysios Foustoukos,
UMinn (grad. student)
Jen Houghton,
UMinn (grad. student)
Ying Chen,
UMinn (visting professor, China)
William
Seyfried, UMinn (Geology & Geophysics chair)
Amy Banta,
Portland State U. (technician)
Joost Hoek,
Portland State U. (grad. student)
Anna-Louise Reysenbach,
Portland State U. (microbiology prof.)
Elva G. Escobar,
UNAM
Humberto Perez Ortiz,
Mexican Navy
 The
Research
. . .
Evolution
of EPR Hydrothermal Systems:
Causes of
Continued Chemical Instability
at 9-10° N
vs Stability at 21° N
The
R/V Atlantis is part of the US academic research fleet
and is mother ship for the submersible Alvin.
This leg of voyage 7 includes 25 Alvin dives.
The
first 5 dives (21°
N) are in a location where "black
smokers" were first discovered in 1979. We now have the opportunity
to understand how these hydrothermal systems evolve over a time
scale greater than 20 years.
The
next 20 dives (9-10°
N) are in a location where we saw the effects of a volcanic
eruption in 1991. The last time we sampled here, the chemistry was
still changing. We are looking at how long it takes for the chemistry
to become stable (as it appears in the older vents at 21°
N).
The
objective of the cruise is to sample hydrothermal fluids at the
9-10° N East Pacific Rise and 21° N East Pacific Rise in
order to answer the following questions:
1. What controls the composition of vent fluids exiting from
a single vent over time?
— Why are some vent fluids stable and others varying
with time?
— How long after volcanic perterbation does it
take for a hydrothermal system to become stable?
— Why do individual vents have different compositions?
— What does this tell us about important "active
processes" within the oceanic crust?
2. Do changes in fluid compositions and temperatures correlate
with changes in the
associated animal communities?
— Do Biological processes affect the compositions
of the fluids?
3. What is the relationship between adjacent diffuse and
focused hydrothermal fluids?
4. What is the flux of chemical species from hydrothermal
vents to the ocean?
This
is part of an ongoing process of sampling the change in hydrothermal
systems over time. Some vents at 9-10° N have not been sampled
since 1994 and the 21° N vents have not been sampled since 1992.
Related
Websites
www.whoi.edu
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute
www.marine.whoi.edu/ships/atlantis/atlantis.htm
about the RV Atlantis
www.marine.whoi.edu/ships/alvin/alvin.htm
about Alvin
www.nsf.gov/
National
Science Foundation
Research Center
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