When you read about Kaleigh Block, the first thing you notice is how nonchalantly she discusses locations that practically no one on Earth will ever visit. She is a doctoral candidate at the University of Delaware. She has also visited a titanium sphere the size of a little bathroom on the floor of the East Pacific Rise, several thousand meters below the surface.
The majority of respondents mention a desk when describing their workplace. Block talks about a vent field where the rocks are alive and the water reaches 400 degrees Celsius.
| Name | Kaleigh Block |
| Affiliation | University of Delaware, College of Earth, Ocean and Environment |
| Program | Doctoral student, School of Marine Science and Policy |
| Field of Study | Deep-sea geochemistry, hydrothermal vent systems, methane seepage |
| Recent Expeditions | East Pacific Rise (HOV Alvin); Mid-Atlantic continental shelf (AUV Sentry) |
| Research Vessels | R/V Atlantis, R/V Endeavor |
| Funding Bodies | National Science Foundation, Office of Naval Research, NOAA |
| Maximum Operating Depth (Alvin) | 4,500 meters (planned 6,500m upgrade) |
| Faculty Advisors / Collaborators | Sunita Shah Walter, Andrew Wozniak |
| Focus Areas | Carbon chemistry of black smoker vents, methane bubble plumes |
This past year, she participated in two cruises—a type of fieldwork that is not particularly common, even in the subject of oceanography. The first carried her to the East Pacific Rise, where the Pacific and Cocos plates are gradually rupturing and forming new crust, onboard the R/V Atlantis. The route down was the Human Occupied Vehicle Alvin, which is older than the majority of the scientists who travel in it. Speaking with those who have been inside Alvin, it seems as though the descent itself transforms them. You spend at least an hour sitting in the dark. The hull settles, and you hear it. Then there are tubeworms and the lights come on outside.
During that journey, the UD team’s focus was on carbon chemistry, particularly what the so-called “black smokers” are putting into the deep ocean. During one of the dives, associate professor Andrew Wozniak saw an undersea volcano erupt. At the time, he was in Alvin with Alyssa Wentzel, an undergraduate.
“The really amazing thing was that we were able to get back on the ship and deploy some instruments over the side so soon after the eruption,” Wozniak stated. It’s the kind of moment that you would tell at every dinner party for the rest of your life if you were in a different line of work. It’s a Tuesday in oceanography.
Block joined a second mission later in the year, this time off the edge of the Mid-Atlantic continental shelf on the R/V Endeavour. The Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Sentry, a motorcycle-sized device that was preprogrammed to “mow the lawn” over the seafloor, was a unique tool. Methane is the mystery there. Geologically speaking, it shouldn’t be coming up from the seabed in this location. No spreading plates, no hydrocarbon reserve. The cruise’s leader, Sunita Shah Walter, believes that buried organic stuff is being affected by either deep heat or bacteria. No one is certain yet. That’s one of the reasons the work is important.
On the expedition, Block’s job was to collect samples by observing the plume data and selecting the leaks that appeared active enough to pursue. Her findings will be the foundation of her dissertation. She remarked, “It was great to learn just how these instruments are used,” in the somewhat subdued manner that scholars typically discuss extraordinary things. She stated that she learned more from the crews of Alvin and Sentry than she had anticipated.
Observing this type of study from the outside makes it difficult to ignore how much of it relies on patience—sitting on a ship for weeks, waiting for the weather, waiting for the vehicle to surface, waiting for a sample to make sense. Sideways, the findings are made. While you’re looking, a volcano explodes. It turns out that a methane plume is either microbial or not. You return home with questions that will live longer than your degree and cold samples in jars. Block seemed to be at ease with that. which, down where the light doesn’t reach, might be the most advantageous feature of all.
