Once a pillow, always a pillow!
Another dredge was made at Cluster 4, as well as a Nautile dive in an area close to the previous CTD zone.
The dredge performed during the night targeted an extruded mantle block , from which a dive during the HERMINE expedition in 2017 recovered talc deposit samples. During this dredge we recovered talc precipitates, and siliceous breccia containing sulphides for which chemical analyses are in progress.
Today, it was Cécile, our co-head scientist's turn, to dive with the Nautile. The aim of the dive was to find the source of the hydrothermal plume detected with the previous CTDs.
The seabed is covered with pillow lava, round and elongated, and screes consisting of blocks of pillows, more or less covered with sediment. The Nautile also moved along an impressive cliff of around a hundred metres high. Unfortunately, no active hydrothermal site in sight, but at least this dive will have meant that Cécile revised her geology: Once a pillow, always a pillow!