Charles Paull, William Ussler III, Edward Peltzer, Peter Brewer, Rendy Keaten, Patrick Mitts
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Moss Landing, California, USA
Juan-Carlos Herguera
CICECE, Ensenada, Mexico
Elena Perez
Los Angeles Museum of Natural History, Los Angeles, California, USA
Jeffrey Nealon
University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming, USA
Thomas Naehr
Texas A&M, Corpus Christy, Texas, USA
Jens Greinert
GEOMAR, Kiel, Germany
John Barron
USGS, Menlo Park, California, USA
Extensive ROV-based sampling and exploration of the seafloor along the transform margin on the northeast side of the Guaymas Basin in the Gulf of California was conducted in water depth of 1,407 to 1,736 m. These dives were conducted to observe the nature of fluids venting from the seafloor, to determine the association with gas hydrates, and to measure the record left by methane venting on the carbonates from this area. A gas vent vigorous enough to generate a water column plume traceable for over 800 m above the seafloor located near seafloor gas hydrate exposures, extensive authigenic carbonates, and active chemosynthetic biological communities was encountered along a satellite ridge associated with the Guaymas transform plate margin. The results of this expedition are previewed here.