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September 24, 2020: Deep Discoverer Exploring

Remotely operated vehicle Deep Discoverer (D2) images an outcrop wall within Mona Canyon during the Océano Profundo 2015: Exploring Puerto Rico’s Seamounts, Trenches, and Troughs expedition. D2 started the dive on the seafloor at a depth of ~4,000 meters (2.5 miles) and transited upslope over Late Cretaceous to Middle Eocene basement rock, which makes up the core of Puerto Rico. After traversing approximately 100 vertical meters (328 feet) of sedimented seafloor with little fauna, D2 climbed 200 vertical meters (656 feet) of steeply dipping and sometimes near vertical cliffs of outcrop of basement volcanic rocks.

Image courtesy of the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, Exploring Puerto Rico’s Seamounts, Trenches, and Troughs. Download larger version (jpg, 1.5 MB).

Remotely operated vehicle Deep Discoverer (D2) images an outcrop wall within Mona Canyon during the Océano Profundo 2015: Exploring Puerto Rico’s Seamounts, Trenches, and Troughs expedition. D2 started the dive on the seafloor at a depth of ~4,000 meters (2.5 miles) and transited upslope over Late Cretaceous to Middle Eocene basement rock, which makes up the core of Puerto Rico. After traversing approximately 100 vertical meters (328 feet) of sedimented seafloor with little fauna, D2 climbed 200 vertical meters (656 feet) of steeply dipping and sometimes near vertical cliffs of outcrop of basement volcanic rocks.

To learn more, check out this background essay, “The Tectonic Setting and Geology of Puerto Rico and Its Surrounding Seafloor.”