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The Pit Virtual Site
Pit location map Pilt location map (detail)

 

Pit Vent is located on the 1998 lava flow in an area of mostly uncollapsed lobate lavas. Nevertheless, there are some small (1-m deep) collapse pits in the area, showing that some lava drain-out occurred here, and that many of the lava lobes are hollow beneath their solid upper crust. In hydrothermally active areas, these hollow cavities act as incubators and provide an ideal habitat for heat-loving microorganisms that live beneath the seafloor. This was dramatically illustrated when ROPOS accidentally broke a hole in the upper crust of a hollow lava lobe, which initiated an outpouring of hydrothermal fluid carrying white microbial floc (the bi-product of a microbial bloom). This "snowstorm" lasted for several hours.
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Fly-through movie
The Quicktime movie below allows you to get a virtual tour of the site by moving through it. Click the button at the lower left to play the movie. Both the fly-through movie and the panorama may take some time to load, so please be patient.

 

Panorama
The Quicktime VR panorama below gives you a 360° view of the site. Click and drag your mouse inside the panorama window to look in different directions. The buttons in the bottom left zoom in or out and show hotlinks to video clips.

 
If you do not see two movie windows or Quicktime icons above, go to the Help page.
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Video clips embedded within the panorama:
Snowblower vent | Magnesia vent | Lava drips | Sculpin fish | Skylights

Other Virtual Sites:
ASHES | CASM | Rumbleometer | Marker 33 | Castle


Related concepts:
Mid-ocean ridges | seafloor spreading | seamounts & hot spots | calderas | Axial volcano
Hydrothermal vents | fluid paths | focused vents | diffuse vents | snowblowers
Animal Gallery | chemosynthesis | biological colonization of new lava
Lava morphology | sheet flows | pillow lava | skylights | lava pillars
NeMO at Axial | the 1998 eruption | the rumbleometer story | lava flow animation

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