SUSTAIN drilling at Surtsey volcano, Iceland, tracks hydrothermal and microbiological interactions in basalt 50 years after eruption
2019
Abstract. The 2017 Surtsey Underwater volcanic System for Thermophiles, Alteration
processes and INnovative concretes (SUSTAIN) drilling project at Surtsey
volcano, sponsored in part by the International Continental Scientific
Drilling Program (ICDP), provides precise observations of the hydrothermal,
geochemical, geomagnetic, and microbiological changes that have occurred in
basaltic tephra and minor intrusions since explosive and effusive eruptions
produced the oceanic island in 1963–1967. Two vertically cored boreholes, to
152 and 192 m below the surface, were drilled using filtered, UV-sterilized
seawater circulating fluid to minimize microbial contamination. These cores
parallel a 181 m core drilled in 1979. Introductory investigations indicate
changes in material properties and whole-rock compositions over the past
38 years. A Surtsey subsurface observatory installed to 181 m in one
vertical borehole holds incubation experiments that monitor in situ
mineralogical and microbial alteration processes at 25–124 ∘ C. A
third cored borehole, inclined 55 ∘ in a 264 ∘ azimuthal
direction to 354 m measured depth, provides further insights into eruption
processes, including the presence of a diatreme that extends at least 100 m
into the seafloor beneath the Surtur crater. The SUSTAIN project provides the
first time-lapse drilling record into a very young oceanic basaltic volcano
over a range of temperatures, 25–141 ∘ C from 1979 to 2017, and
subaerial and submarine hydrothermal fluid compositions. Rigorous procedures
undertaken during the drilling operation protected the sensitive environment
of the Surtsey Natural Preserve.
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