In March-April 2010, cruise PARISUB (Plume And Ridge Interaction by Submersible) of R/V L’Atalante investigated the East Pacific Rise (EPR) between 15°22’N and 16°15’N where the spreading axis meets the Mathematician seamount chain. This international (French-Mexican) multidisciplinary research expedition used the facilities of R/V L’Atalante, Deep-Sea Submersible (DSS) Nautile, and Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) Aster-X operated by IFREMER in order to collect a unique set of bathymetric and geophysical data, direct observations, biological and geological samples over a ridge-hotspot interaction area. This is characterized by an over-inflated ridge segment (Langmuir et al., 1998), a peculiar geochemical signature (Donnelly, 2002), and the suspected presence of hydrothermalism (Baker et al., 2001). The cruise involved both on- and off-axis experiments and sampling, to decipher the present characters of the interaction in terms of axis stability, hydrothermalism, and associated fauna as well as the recent history of the interaction.
Cruise report with accompanying figures below
