{"id":80,"date":"2016-03-04T12:54:42","date_gmt":"2016-03-04T12:54:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.travel-zone-greece.com\/blog\/?p=80"},"modified":"2022-04-18T12:02:44","modified_gmt":"2022-04-18T12:02:44","slug":"impressive-subsea-pools-discovered-near-santorini","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.travel-zone-greece.com\/blog\/impressive-subsea-pools-discovered-near-santorini\/","title":{"rendered":"Impressive subsea pools discovered near Santorini"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The location of the second largest volcanic eruption in human history, the waters off Greece\u2019s Santorini are the site of newly discovered opalescent pools forming at 250 meters depth. The interconnected series of meandering, iridescent white pools contain high concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO<sub>2<\/sub>) and may hold answers to questions related to deepsea carbon storage as well as provide a means of monitoring the volcano for future eruptions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe volcanic eruption at Santorini in 1600 B.C. wiped out the Minoan civilization living along the Aegean Sea,\u201d said Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) scientist Rich Camilli, lead author of a new study published today in the journal <em>Scientific Reports<\/em>.\u00a0 \u201cNow these never-before-seen pools in the volcano\u2019s crater may help our civilization answer important questions about how carbon dioxide behaves in the ocean.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The pools range in size from 1 to 5 meters diameter, and scientists believe they are ephemeral, appearing and disappearing like a rain pool in the dessert.<\/p>\n<p>Camilli and his colleagues from the University of Girona, National and Kapodistrian\u00a0 University of Athens, Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, and Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, working in the region in July 2012, used a series of sophisticated underwater exploration vehicles to locate and characterize the pools, which they call the Kallisti Limnes, from ancient Greek for \u201cmost beautiful lakes.\u201d A prior volcanic crisis in 2011 had led the researchers to initiate their investigation at a site of known hydrothermal activity within the Santorini caldera. During a preliminary reconnaissance of a large seafloor fault the University of Girona\u2019s autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) <em>Girona 500<\/em> identified subsea layers of water with unusual chemical properties.<\/p>\n<p>Following the AUV survey, the researchers then deployed HCMR\u2019s <em>Thetis<\/em> human occupied vehicle. The submersible\u2019s crew used robotic onboard chemical sensors to track the faint water column chemical signature up along the caldera wall where they discovered the pools within localized depressions of the caldera wall. Finally, the researchers sent a smaller remotely operated vehicle (ROV), to sample the pools\u2019 hydrothermal fluids.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve seen pools within the ocean before, but they\u2019ve always been brine pools where dissolved salt released from \u00a0geologic formations below the seafloor creates the extra density and separates the brine pool from the surrounding seawater,\u201d said Camilli. \u201cIn this case, the pools\u2019 increased density isn\u2019t driven by salt \u2013 we believe it may be the CO<sub>2<\/sub> itself that makes the water denser and causes it to pool.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Where is this CO<sub>2<\/sub> coming from? The volcanic complex of Santorini is the most active part of the Hellenic Volcanic Arc. The region is characterized by earthquakes caused by the subduction of the African tectonic plate underneath the Eurasian plate. During subduction, CO<sub>2<\/sub> can be released by magma degassing, or from sedimentary materials such as limestone which undergo alteration while being subjected to enormous pressure and temperature.<\/p>\n<p>The researchers determined that the pools have a very low pH, making them quite acidic, and therefore, devoid of calcifying organisms. But, they believe, silica-based organisms could be the source of the opal in the pool fluids.<\/p>\n<p>Until the discovery of these CO<sub>2<\/sub>-dense pools, the assumption has been that when CO<sub>2<\/sub> is released into the ocean, it disperses into the surrounding water. \u201cBut what we have here,\u201d says Camilli, \u201cis like a \u2018black and tan\u2019 \u2013 think Guinness and Bass \u2013 where the two fluids actually remain separate\u201d with the denser CO<sub>2<\/sub> water sinking to form the pool.<\/p>\n<p>The discovery has implications for the build up of CO<sub>2<\/sub> in other areas with limited circulation, including the nearby Kolumbo underwater volcano, which is completely enclosed. \u201cOur finding suggests the CO<sub>2<\/sub> may collect in the deepest regions of the crater. It would be interesting to see,\u201d Camilli said, adding it does have implications for carbon capture and storage.<\/p>\n<p>Sub-seafloor storage is gaining acceptance as a means of reducing heat-trapping CO<sub>2<\/sub> in the atmosphere and lessening the acidifying impacts of CO<sub>2 <\/sub>in the ocean. But before fully embracing the concept, society needs to understand the risks involved in the event of release.<\/p>\n<p>Temperature sensors installed by the team revealed that the Kallisti Limnes were 5\u00b0C above that of surrounding waters. According to co-author Javier Escartin, \u201cthis heat is likely the result of hydrothermal fluid circulation within the crust and above a deeper heat source, such as a magma chamber.\u201d These temperatures may provide a useful gauge to study the evolution of the system. Escartin added that \u201ctemperature records of hydrothermal fluids can show variations in heat sources at depth such as melt influx to the magma chamber. The pool fluids also respond to variations in pressure, such as tides, and this informs us of the permeability structure of the sub-seafloor.\u201d\u00a0 Changes in the pools\u2019 temperature and chemical signals may thus complement other monitoring techniques as useful indicators of increased or decreased volcanism.<\/p>\n<p>This European \u2013 American\u00a0 research collaboration was funded through support from the EU Eurofleets program, Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, the US National Science Foundation, and NASA\u2019s astrobiology program (ASTEP) which supports autonomous technology development to search for life on other planets. \u201cFrom a technology perspective, it was a big step forward,\u201d Camilli said.<\/p>\n<p><em>The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is a private, non-profit organization on Cape Cod, Mass., dedicated to marine research, engineering, and higher education. Established in 1930 on a recommendation from the National Academy of Sciences, its primary mission is to understand the ocean and its interaction with the Earth as a whole, and to communicate a basic understanding of the ocean&#8217;s role in the changing global environment. For more information, please visit\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.whoi.edu\/\"><em>www.whoi.edu.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Source\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.whoi.edu\/news-release\/co2-pools#sthash.1KCjt1Iu.dpuf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">whoi.edu<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The location of the second largest volcanic eruption in human history, the waters off Greece\u2019s Santorini are the site of newly discovered opalescent pools forming at 250 meters depth. The interconnected series of meandering, iridescent white pools contain high concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) and may hold answers to questions related to deepsea carbon storage&hellip;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.travel-zone-greece.com\/blog\/impressive-subsea-pools-discovered-near-santorini\/\" rel=\"bookmark\"><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Impressive subsea pools discovered near Santorini<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":""},"categories":[8,5],"tags":[52,25,53,54,14,17,36,15,38],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.12 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\r\n<title>Impressive subsea pools discovered near Santorini | Travel Zone Greece<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.travel-zone-greece.com\/blog\/impressive-subsea-pools-discovered-near-santorini\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Impressive subsea pools discovered near Santorini | Travel Zone Greece\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The location of the second largest volcanic eruption in human history, the waters off Greece\u2019s Santorini are the site of newly discovered opalescent pools forming at 250 meters depth. 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