Ongoing technological developments are increasing the quantity and quality of data collected from the deep seafloor. Towed camera systems are commonly used to collect photo and video images of the deep seafloor for a wide variety of purposes, from pure exploratory research to the development of management plans. This allows the asphalt to form pāhoehoe lava-like shapes and to support dense chemosynthetic communities over timescales of hundreds of years. After extrusion, chemical and physical changes in the asphalt generate increasing viscosity gradients both along the flow path and between the flow’s surface and core. The Chapopote asphalt volcano likely erupts during phases of intensified activity separated by periods of reduced activity.
The sims 3 cc tiles and mosaic pictures series#
Augmenting this optical resolution with micro-bathymetry led to the recognition that very large asphalt pavements exhibiting highly varied morphologies and weathering states comprised a series of at least three separate flow units, one on top of another. The largest image captured an area of 3,300 m² with over 15 billion pixels and resolved objects at centimeter scale. Combining data from autonomous underwater vehicle mapping and remotely operated vehicle navigation with powerful optical mosaicking techniques, we assembled georeferenced images of the Chapopote asphalt flows. Aspects of asphalt flow morphology are analogous to ropy pāhoehoe flows known from eruptions of basaltic lava on land, but the timing and formation sequence of asphalt flows has been difficult to infer because limited visibility in the deep ocean makes it challenging to image large areas of the seafloor. Subsequent exploration has expanded the known extent of asphalt volcanism across abyssal depths in much of this region. In 2003, the Chapopote asphalt flow was discovered in the southern Gulf of Mexico at a depth of 2,900 m.