Images

Dr. Christopher G. Smith pumps water from a submarine groundwater well on the seafloor through tubing to the R/V Halimeda and uses an instrument called a YSI to measure salinity and ensure the wells are working properly and producing groundwater.

Dr. Christopher G. Smith pumps water from a submarine groundwater well on the seafloor through tubing to the R/V Halimeda and uses an instrument called a YSI to measure salinity and ensure the wells are working properly and producing groundwater.

USGS scientific diver BJ Reynolds next to a submarine groundwater well on the seafloor. Tubing was hooked up the well to pump groundwater to the surface to ensure the wells are working properly and producing groundwater.

Illustration of NOAA research vessel conducting multibeam sonar survey of seafloor, courtesy of EXPRESS, or Expanding Pacific Research and Exploration of Submerged Systems.

Image showing NOAA research vessel with logos of NOAA, BOEM, USGS and MBARI. EXPRESS is a multi-year, multi-institution cooperative research campaign in deep sea areas of California, Oregon, and Washington, including the continental shelf and slope.

Restored staghorn coral (Acropora cervicornis) at Looe Key reef in the lower Florida Keys outplanted by Mote Marine Laboratory's coral restoration program.

The Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center Sea Floor Mapping Group is mapping the seafloor and subseafloor of Nantucket Sound as part of a long-term collaboration with the State of Massachusetts. This is an image of Nantucket Sound's seafloor. It is dominated by sand waves.

Our coasts, the most familiar part of the ocean are the gateway to the larger deeper ocean world. USGS studies processes and hazards in the coastal zone and how they affect people, wildlife, and ecosystems.

Tom Lorensen, USGS Physical Scientist, uses an ultraviolet light to examine mineral samples aboard R/V Thomas G. Thompson.

The Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center Sea Floor Mapping Group is mapping the seafloor and subseafloor of Nantucket Sound as part of a long-term collaboration with the State of Massachusetts. This is an image of a seismic reflection profile showing layers of sediment deposited during a glacial period.

Amy Gartman, USGS Research Oceanographer and chief scientist for the Escanaba Trough expedition, examines a mineral sample with a hand lens aboard R/V Thomas G. Thompson.

Iron-oxyhydroxide gossan, formed by weathering of massive sulfide. Dominantly porous orange goethite, with a compact darker to metallic layer of dense goethite.

Partially weathered hydrothermal chimney, composed mostly of barite (BaSO₄). The white material is the outer weathered rind, where the disseminated sulfide minerals have been leached out by oxidation, leaving an orange iron oxide stain.

Two hands are better than one! The versatile, ambidextrous ROV (remotely operated vehicle) Jason collects two mineral samples from the seafloor at Escanaba Trough. Jason's sample collection tubes are visible off to the left.

Close-up of fine-grained pyrrhotite-rich massive sulfide. The deep-sea sample was collected from the Escanaba Trough, in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California.

The Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center Sea Floor Mapping Group is mapping the seafloor and subseafloor of Nantucket Sound as part of a long-term collaboration with the State of Massachusetts. While a crew is at sea collecting new data, geographer Brian Andrews is processing yesterday's seafloor mapping data.

The Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center Sea Floor Mapping Group mapping the seafloor and subseafloor of Nantucket Sound as part of a long-term collaboration with the State of Massachusetts. Eric Moore and Alex Nichols deploy the chirp subbottom profiler. The chirp is the device that allows us to see underneath the seafloor.

Close up of fine-grained massive sulfide containing the primary minerals pyrrhotite, sphalerite, and barite. Weathering has produced secondary minerals, including iron oxide and possibly jarosite. Shiny image shows the same rock under an ultraviolet light source, revealing the minerals that fluoresce under the light.

Close up of fine-grained seafloor massive sulfide containing the primary minerals pyrrhotite, sphalerite, and barite. Weathering has produced secondary minerals, including iron oxide and possibly jarosite.

Close up of fine-grained seafloor massive sulfide under an ultraviolet light source, revealing the minerals that fluoresce under the light.

Close up of fine-grained massive sulfide containing the primary minerals pyrrhotite, sphalerite, and barite. Weathering has produced secondary minerals, including iron oxide and possibly jarosite. Second image shows the same rock under an ultraviolet light source, revealing the minerals that fluoresce under the light.