Field geology under the sea with a remotely operated vehicle: Mona Rift, Puerto Rico

Geosphere
By: , and 

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Abstract

We implemented concepts of field geology at great ocean depths by constructing virtual outcrops from a string of overlapping video frames collected by remotely operated vehicles (ROVs). This lower-cost alternative to drilling boreholes allows stratigraphic extension into the offshore and regional interpretation of marine seismic profiles. The imagery was collected along a dive transect on the western wall of Mona Rift, a deep and narrow rift northwest of Puerto Rico, between water depths of 1560 m and 3927 m. The northern coast of Puerto Rico and its large offshore area are underlain by a mid-Eocene and younger forearc basin topped by a thick carbonate platform. There are no drill holes offshore, and tying seismic lines across the shoreline there is problematic. We describe our virtual outcrop and constrain its age and stratigraphy using seven rock samples collected by ROV and compare the outcrop's stratigraphy to deep boreholes and outcrops on land. Our formation descriptions and ages agree, for the most part, with those on land, but we identified a 100-m-thick section that is represented on land by an unconformity. Our stratigraphic interpretation indicates lateral variations in formation thicknesses and establishes a cross-section for additional sampling of the Eocene–Pliocene geology. It also suggests that Mona Rift has formed since the mid-Pliocene. The presence or absence of ferromanganese (Fe-Mn) crust on rocks along the transect may be correlated with the smoothness of the rock surface.

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Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title Field geology under the sea with a remotely operated vehicle: Mona Rift, Puerto Rico
Series title Geosphere
DOI 10.1130/GES02762.1
Volume 20
Issue 6
Year Published 2024
Language English
Publisher Geological Society of America
Contributing office(s) Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center
Description 23 p.
First page 1575
Last page 1597
Country United States
Other Geospatial Mona Rift, Puerto Rico
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