Exploring Eratosthene Seamount - Eastern Mediterranean

Larry Mayer and Garrett Mitchell
CCOM Director and M.S. Student
CCOM/JHC
Friday, Apr. 15, 2011, 3:00pm
Chase 130
Abstract

In August of 2010, a science team from the Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping (CCOM) (Larry Mayer, Garrett Mitchell, and Nikki Kuenzel) participated in an oceanographic research cruise aboard the Exploration Vessel (E/V) Nautilus to explore and map the  Eratosthenes  Seamount off Cyprus in the Eastern Mediterranean. This cruise was sponsored and led by the Institute for Exploration (IFE), Ocean Exploration Trust (OET), University of Rhode Island's (URI) Center for Ocean Exploration and Archaeological Oceanography (COEAO). The first several legs of the cruise were devoted to exploring unknown areas in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea including the Santorini Seamount, Greece, Eratosthenes Seamount, Cyprus, offshore Israel, and the Anaximander Mountains in Turkey. The presentation will focus on the exploration of Eratosthenes Seamount using the Deep Submergence Vehicles (ROV Hercules and ROV/Towsled Argus) and will discuss the various deepsea discoveries that were made including the numerous geomorphologic karst systems, chemosynthetic "cold seep" vent communities, pockmarks and mud volcanoes, various amphorae and wrecks representing centuries of trade and warfare, and the unusual seafloor signatures of the Mediterranean's beaked whales. Also included in this discussion will be how the internet and telepresence technology is sharing the discoveries to the public in real time.