(December 12, 2022) --

Push core from Asut Tesoru, with blue sediment on the bottom.

Greetings! We have been very busy here on the R/V Kilo Moana. Our second most recent dive at Asut Tesoru seamount left us feeling very energized with fluid samples with a pH of 12.4 coming out of the borehole. 

Push cores with stunning blue sediment.

After spending over 30 hours on the sea floor, our sampling was a major success. We also collected some push cores with some vibrant blue sulfide-scented sediment from this site. 

Today we brought JASON out of the water with really high hopes for good samples from Fantangisna seamount. We spent 36 hours on the seafloor sampling fluids from the CORK-Lite. We dropped a 30ft weighted tube into the CORK-Lite because this sampling method had been very successful at Asut Tesoru. This dive seemed promising since we could see particles discharging from the top of the CORK-Lite. 

Unfortunately, the fluids we recovered from the dive had pH values much lower than expected. We had expected a pH of around 10.8, and instead, our samples had a pH of no higher than 8. There is a chance the particles coming out of the top may have been rust particles coming off of the inside of the CORK-Lite itself. 

There was some methane detected in the water which hints that there may be a mixture of borehole fluid and seawater, but it is not likely to be pure borehole fluid. 

We still have two dives left over the last six days of our expedition, and we are determined to get the best samples we can get from revisiting Asut Tesoru and Yinazao seamounts. Here is to the last week of our trip. 

It is going to be a busy one, but we are excited to see what happens. Sea you soon!