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Seek Research Magazine

Under the sea: Geologist explores the depths of the oceans

 

Aida Farough, a Kansas State University teaching assistant professor of geology, has been spending weeks at sea on research vessels while she studies the ocean floor, underwater volcanoes and hydrothermal vents. In this video, Farough discusses her work on the U.S. research drilling vessel called the JOIDES Resolution. Video courtesy of the JOIDES Resolution.


  • Aida Farough, a Kansas State University teaching assistant professor of geology, stands on board the U.S. research drilling vessel called the JOIDES Resolution. Farough spent two months on a research cruise to study the mineral resources near Brothers volcano in the Pacific Ocean northeast of New Zealand. | Photo credit: Bill Crawford, International Ocean Discovery Program
  • Aida Farough, a Kansas State University teaching assistant professor of geology, right, gathers data 1.5 miles underwater inside Human Occupied Vehicle Alvin. Jefferson Grau with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, left, piloted Alvin to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean to study the mid-ocean ridge called East Pacific Rise, which is off the coast of California. | Photo credit: Santiago Herrera, Lehigh University
  • Aida Farough, a Kansas State University teaching assistant professor of geology, stands in front of Human Occupied Vehicle Alvin before using it to travel 1.5 miles underwater to study the mid-ocean ridge called East Pacific Rise, which is off the coast of California. | Photo credit: Ken Kostel, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
  • Black smoke erupts from a seafloor vent called a hydrothermal system. The black smoke consists of an abundance of dark, fine-grained, suspended metal particles that form when hot fluid mixes with cold seawater. | Photo credit: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Archives
  • Farough 5: Vent crabs hide among Riftia tubeworms surrounding a warm hydrothermal vent in the Pacific Ocean. Aida Farough, a Kansas State University teaching assistant professor of geology, and other researchers captured this image by diving to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean in Human Occupied Vehicle Alvin. | Photo credit: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
  • The shrunken plastic foam cup with the Kansas State University Powercat on the right was once the size of the regular plastic foam cup on the left. During a research cruise, Aida Farough, a Kansas State University teaching assistant professor of geology, sent this cup to the bottom of the ocean — a depth of more than a mile — near Brothers volcano in the Pacific Ocean northeast of New Zealand. The underwater pressure caused the plastic foam cup to shrink and remain that way. | Photo credit: Aida Farough, Kansas State University
  • Aida Farough, a Kansas State University teaching assistant professor of geology, stands on board the U.S. research drilling vessel called the JOIDES Resolution. Farough was selected as one of 11 researchers from the U.S. for the two-month research cruise, which focused on Brothers volcano in the Pacific Ocean and marked the first attempt to drill into a submarine volcano. | Photo credit: Aida Farough, Kansas State University
  • A circular thermal blanket labeled T and a current meter take measurements of the heat flow from the seafloor at the East Pacific Rise. Aida Farough, a Kansas State University teaching assistant professor of geology, deployed this thermal blanket when she traveled to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean in Human Occupied Vehicle Alvin. | Photo credit: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Kansas may be landlocked, but that has not stopped a Kansas State University geologist from going 1.5 miles underwater to explore the deepest parts of the Pacific Ocean. 

Aida Farough, a teaching assistant professor of geology, has been spending weeks at sea while she studies the ocean floor, underwater volcanoes and hydrothermal vents at mid-ocean ridges. But Farough’s underwater explorations are doing more than helping scientists understand the minerals and microbial life on the ocean floor. Her research can provide key insights to the origin of life on Earth as well as the existence of life and hydrothermal vents on other planets. 

“Just because we don’t have an ocean in our backyard in Kansas, we shouldn’t ignore the oceans and the opportunities of marine exploration,” Farough said. “We know less about the oceans than we know about some of the planets in our solar system. In fact, we have better maps of Mars than parts of the oceans within the U.S. territory.” 

That’s why Farough is involved in several large international research projects that are aiming to learn more about the geologic processes on the ocean floor. 

During one National Science Foundation-funded research cruise with the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System, Farough dove to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean — a depth of 2,500 meters, or about 1.5 miles — in Human Occupied Vehicle Alvin. Farough also recently spent two months with International Ocean Discovery Program scientists on the U.S. research drilling vessel called the JOIDES Resolution to study the mineral resources near Brothers volcano, which is the most hydrothermally active volcano in the Kermadec Arc in the Pacific Ocean northeast of New Zealand.

 

Unearthing new information on Alaska’s Wrangell volcanic belt 


Matthew Brueseke

Matthew Brueseke

A new study by a team of geologists that includes Kansas State University’s Matthew Brueseke, associate professor of geology, has found that the Wrangell volcanic belt in Alaska’s Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve is older than previously recognized and has determined why its volcanic field has been persistently active since it formed. 

The study produced new geochemical and geochronological data that covers the entirety of the volcanic arc’s formation. Coupled with data from prior studies, the team determined the age of the volcanic belt. 

“The new data helped demonstrate that the Wrangell volcanic belt magmatism initiated at least approximately 30 million years ago, which is several million years earlier than previously recognized,” Brueseke said. 

The group also determined that location and geometry have a lot to do with the continuous activity and size of the volcanoes. This creates an environment that allows for increased volumes of magma, which can then move up through the crust along the faults and possibly erupt. 

The Wrangell volcanic belt is home to some of the largest — by height and volume — volcanoes on Earth, including at least two that are historically active and considered hazardous by the U.S. Geological Survey.

Matthew Brueseke