Editing Robert Ballard (section)

==Marine geology==
Ballard's first dive in a submersible was in the [[Ben Franklin (PX-15)|''Ben Franklin'' (PX-15)]] in 1969 off the coast of [[Florida]] during a Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution expedition. In the summer of 1970, he began a field mapping project of the [[Gulf of Maine]] for his [[doctoral dissertation]]. It used an air gun that sent sound waves underwater to determine the underlying structure of the ocean floor and the submersible ''Alvin'', which was used to find and recover a sample from the [[bedrock]].{{citation_needed|date=August 2019}}

Ballard was geologist diver in ''Alvin'' during [[Project FAMOUS]], which explored the median [[rift valley]] of the [[Mid-Atlantic Ridge]] in 1974.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Ballard|first1=R. D.|last2=Bryan|first2=W. B.|last3=Heirtzler|first3=J. R.|last4=Keller|first4=G.|last5=Moore|first5=J. G.|last6=Andel|first6=Tj. van|date=1975|title=Manned Submersible Observations in the FAMOUS Area: Mid-Atlantic Ridge|journal=Science|volume=190|issue=4210|pages=103–108|issn=0036-8075|jstor=1740930|doi=10.1126/science.190.4210.103|bibcode=1975Sci...190..103B|s2cid=128755348}}</ref>

During the summer of 1975, Ballard participated in a joint French-American expedition called [[Phere]] searching for [[hydrothermal vents]] over the [[Mid-Atlantic Ridge]], but the expedition did not find any active vents.{{Citation needed|date=May 2019}}

On the Galapagos [[spreading center]] east of the islands a 1977 exploration by ''Alvin'' found deep-sea hydrothermal vents surrounded by [[Hydrothermal vent#Biology of hydrothermal vents|communities of living organisms]] with energy derived by [[chemosynthesis]]. Ballard was a participating diver.<ref name=":0" /> While the discovery was of immense biological significance, the expedition's scientists were all geologists, with no biologists, as it was thought certain there would be no life to study, let alone forms unknown to science.<ref name=weston/>

The 1979 [[RISE project (oceanography)|RISE project]] expedition on the [[East Pacific Rise]] west of Mexico at 21°N was aided by deep-towed still camera sleds that were able to take pictures of the ocean floor, making it easier to find hydrothermal vent locations. When ''Alvin'' inspected one of the sites the deep tow located, the scientists observed black "smoke" billowing out of the vents, something not observed at the [[Galápagos]] Rift.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last1=Corliss|first1=John B.|last2=Dymond|first2=Jack|last3=Gordon|first3=Louis I.|last4=Edmond|first4=John M.|last5=von Herzen|first5=Richard P.|last6=Ballard|first6=Robert D.|last7=Green|first7=Kenneth|last8=Williams|first8=David|last9=Bainbridge|first9=Arnold|date=March 16, 1979|title=Submarine Thermal Springs on the Galápagos Rift|journal=Science|language=en|volume=203|issue=4385|pages=1073–1083|doi=10.1126/science.203.4385.1073|pmid=17776033|issn=0036-8075|bibcode=1979Sci...203.1073C|s2cid=39869961}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last1=Spiess|first1=F. N.|last2=Macdonald|first2=K. C.|last3=Atwater|first3=T.|last4=Ballard|first4=R.|last5=Carranza|first5=A.|last6=Cordoba|first6=D.|last7=Cox|first7=C.|last8=Garcia|first8=V. M. D.|last9=Francheteau|first9=J.|date=March 28, 1980|title=East Pacific Rise: Hot Springs and Geophysical Experiments|journal=Science|language=en|volume=207|issue=4438|pages=1421–1433|doi=10.1126/science.207.4438.1421|pmid=17779602|issn=0036-8075|bibcode=1980Sci...207.1421S|s2cid=28363398}}</ref>

Ballard and geophysicist [[Jean Francheteau]] went down in ''Alvin'' the day after the [[black smoker]]s were first observed. They were able to take an accurate temperature reading of the active vent (the previous dive's thermometer had melted) and recorded a temperature of {{convert|350|C|K F}}.<ref name=":1" />

They continued searching for more vents along the East Pacific Rise between 1980 and 1982.{{Citation needed|date=May 2019}}