A close up of a grenadier investigating ROV Deep Discoverer.

A close up of a grenadier investigating ROV Deep Discoverer. Image courtesy of the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, Exploring Puerto Rico’s Seamounts, Trenches, and Troughs. Download larger version (jpg, 1.1 MB).

Dive 1: Arecibo Amphitheater
April 10, 2015
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Dive 1: Arecibo Amphitheater

Highlights from the first remotely operated vehicle (ROV) dive of Océano Profundo 2015 on April 10. The dive focused on the investigation of the geomorphology and potential slope failures in Guajataca Canyon along the Arecibo Amphitheater, a section of the marginal escarpment of the carbonate platform. Video courtesy of the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, Océano Profundo 2015: Exploring Puerto Rico’s Seamounts, Trenches, and Troughs. Download (mp4, 45.6 MB)

The first remotely operated vehicle (ROV) dive of Océano Profundo 2015 investigated the geomorphology and potential slope failures in Guajataca Canyon along the Arecibo Amphitheater, a section of the marginal escarpment of the carbonate platform. ROV Deep Discoverer (D2) landed at a depth of 4,055 meters on a sedimented seafloor with little benthic fauna. During the dive, D2 traversed a sequence of variably sedimented carbonate and interspersed sandstone rocks. Most of the outcrops had iron manganese coatings of variable thickness, but at the beginning of the dive, there was some recent disruption of the iron manganese crust to reveal the white carbonate. Importantly, there was little evidence of recent slope failure. Biota in this area included ctenophores, brisingid sea stars, cusk eels, anemones, and a diversity of sponges, as well a few colonies of bamboo coral. As D2 climbed the escarpment, we encountered a variety of steep rock faces, with varying degrees of colonization by sponges. Fauna encountered during the second half of the dive included seastars, crinoids, sea cucumbers, swimming polychaetes, bamboo coral, sponges, ctenophores, shrimp, anemones, squat lobsters, jellyfish, and several species of rattail fishes.