MBARI scientists and engineers have joined an expedition led by the MARUM – Center for Environmental Sciences at the University of Bremen to study the cold seeps offshore of Southern California. These fluid seeps occur along fault zones and support unique communities of life.

Aboard the German research vessel Sonne, an interdisciplinary team of researchers from MARUM, MBARI, Oklahoma State University, Oregon State University, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, and the University of California, Los Angeles will study the barium-rich cold seeps in the San Clemente Basin and examine their significance for fluid circulation along deep fault systems in the Earth’s crust. 

During the 30-day expedition, researchers will investigate the precise conditions that led to the formation of barite on the seabed and the distribution of these deposits along the 100-kilometer-long (62-mile-long) San Clemente Fault. The expedition team will use a pair of MBARI’s autonomous underwater vehicles to map fluid seeps in the San Clemente Basin, then use MARUM’s remotely operated vehicle MARUM-QUEST 5000 to study these geological features and their associated biological communities more closely.

Read more from our collaborators at MARUM.

Watch a livestream of expedition dives on MARUM’s YouTube channel.

For additional information or images relating to this article, please email pressroom@mbari.org.