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Technical Summary

STUDY TITLE: Exploration and Research of Northern Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Natural and 

Artificial Hard-Bottom Habitats with Emphasis on Coral Communities: Reefs, Rigs, and Wrecks—

“Lophelia II”

REPORT TITLE: Exploration and Research of Northern Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Natural and 

Artificial Hard-Bottom Habitats with Emphasis on Coral Communities: Reefs, Rigs, and Wrecks—

“Lophelia II” Final Report 

CONTRACT NUMBER: M08PC20038

SPONSORING OCS REGION: Gulf of Mexico

APPLICABLE PLANNING AREA(S): Central Gulf of Mexico

FISCAL YEAR(S) OF PROJECT FUNDING: 2008; 2009; 2010; 2011, 2012

COMPLETION DATE OF REPORT: 17 March 2016

COSTS: FY 2008 - $1,096,529, FY2009 - $957,096, FY2010 - $925,476, FY2011 - $1,359,320

PROJECT MANAGER: James M. Brooks, Ph.D.

AFFILIATION: TDI-Brooks International Inc.

ADDRESS: 14391 South Dowling, College Station, TX 77845

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS*

: Brooks, J. M.1, C. Fisher2, E.Cordes6, I. Baums2, B. Bernard1, R. 

Church7

, P. Etnoyer8, C. German5, E. Gehring2, I. MacDonald4, H. Roberts3, T. Shank5, D. Warren7, S. 

Welsh3

, G. Wolff1, Douglas Weaver (

1 TDI-Brooks International Inc, 2 The Pennsylvania State University, 

3 Louisiana State University, 4 Florida State University, 5 Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 6

Temple University, 7 C&C Technology, 8 NOAA)

KEY WORDS: Gulf of Mexico, deepwater coral communities, habitat, AUV, ROV, submersible, 

biology, photography, Lophelia, education, population dynamics, platforms, life histories, biodiversity 

and biogeography

BACKGROUND: Over the last half century, offshore exploration for hydrocarbons in the northern Gulf 

of Mexico (GoM) has advanced from the bay and inner shelf to the continental slope/continental rise 

transition. Geophysical and geotechnical data collected in support of both exploration and production 

have been largely responsible for the foundation of our present understanding of slope geology. This 

database emphasizes the extremely complex geological framework of the northern GoM’s continental 

slope and the surprisingly important role that the expulsion of subsurface fluids and gases has in shaping 

surficial geology and biology of the modern seafloor. 

In the GoM, deep-water corals are commonly found on seep-related authigenic carbonates, but have also 

been observed on anthropogenic structures, ship wrecks and oil platforms in particular. The most common 
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species of reef-forming deep-water coral in the GoM is Lophelia pertusa (=prolifera). This species was 

first recovered in the late 1800s by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey Steamer Blake. Increasing 

industry activity in deepwater has resulted in the creation of numerous platforms in water depths 

exceeding 300 m. In areas where hard substrates are limiting, these platforms may significantly increase 

the potential range of corals and other hardground fauna. This study focused on the exploration and 

characterization of these communities and examination of their potential connection to other coral 

populations and surrounding deep-water communities.

OBJECTIVES: Obtain a robust predictive capability for the occurrence of rich cnidarian (primarily 

scleractinian coral) hard ground communities in the deep GoM. Discover and describe new locations at 

greater than 300 m depth in the GoM with extensive coral community development, particularly including 

Lophelia pertusa. Gain a more comprehensive understanding of the fundamental processes that control 

the occurrence and distribution of Lophelia and other extensive coral communities at depths greater than 

300 m in the GoM through both laboratory experiments and field data collection. Document and 

understand the relationship between coral communities on artificial and natural substrates with respect to 

community composition and function, phylogeographic and population genetics, and growth rates of the 

key cnidarian foundation fauna. 

DESCRIPTION: The Lophelia II project involves exploration and research of the northern GoM 

deepwater natural and artificial hard bottom habitats with emphasis on coral communities with 

archeological studies of seven shipwrecks. Four cruises were completed. The first Lophelia II cruise took 

place in September 2008, and the second cruise in June 2009. Cruise 3, August–September 2009, returned 

to known sites and the newly-discovered sites targeted by Cruise 1 and 2 for further exploration. 

SIGNIFICANT CONCLUSIONS: Cruise1 Leg1 – Using NOAA Ship Nancy Foster / SeaVision ROV, 

the Ewing Banks Wreck site was confirmed to be a historic shipwreck site, which likely dates to the 

nineteenth century. More Lophelia was discovered growing on that site than any other nineteenth century 

wooden wreck known in the Gulf of Mexico. Many of the wreck’s attributes, such as the lack of cargo, 

rigging, or machinery, make it an intriguing mystery. The identity of Gulfoil was confirmed on a brief 

dive at the site and substantial coral colonies were documented. The preliminary examination suggests 

the Lophelia coverage at Gulfoil may be more substantial than that documented at Gulfpenn in 2004.

Leg2 - During the 12 working days at sea, multibeam data was collected at 13 sites and 10 lowerings of 

the ROV were completed over 8 different sites. There were two ROV operations days lost to weather 

conditions, one dive never reached the bottom, and three other dives were ended with under two hours of 

bottom time due to technical problems with the ROV. During almost every dive the manipulator failed, 

and this severely limited the capacity to collect physical samples for future genetics work. 

Cruise 2 - The cruise team was at sea for 15 days on board the RV Brooks McCall and transited from 

Freeport, TX to the Garden Banks Lease Area south of the Flower Garden Banks and then to the Green 

Canyon lease area. The primary data collected included multibeam swath bathymetry, digital video and 

still photographic imagery, and CTD with DO and pH sensors. Other data streams from the AUV, such 

as vehicle attitude, acoustic data, and sonar imagery were recorded by networked computers in the control 

van. Navigational data for both the ship and AUV systems were also recorded. While in transit to and 

from the site, and during times when the AUV was not deployed, photographic data was collected with 

the camera sled. 

Cruise 3 - Jason II was used to: explore 10 new sites for the occurrence of deep water coral reefs; make 

collections of Lophelia and other corals for genetic and physiological studies, make collections of 

communities associated with Lophelia and other corals for ecological studies; collect quantitative digital 

imagery for characterization of sites and coral communities; collect spatially explicit physical near bottom 

oceanographic data; deploy cameras and microbial arrays; reposition larval traps and current meters; 
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collect push cores; and conduct a series of linked archeological/ biological investigations on deep water 

shipwrecks. In addition to launching and recovering Jason II, elevators were deployed and recovered 

twice, four moorings (2 larval traps and 2 current meters) were deployed, and CTD casts were conducted 

19 August – 12 September 2009

Cruise 4

This was the fourth cruise in the project to discover and characterize deep-water coral communities in the 

Gulf of Mexico, to conduct a variety of experiments and analyses that will help predict where other 

communities will be found, and to understand why we find them where we do. Cruise 4 returned to 

known and new sites discovered during Cruises 1 - 3 for further exploration of coral and seep 

communities.

This cruise employed the Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) JASON II to explore sites, make a variety 

of deployments, collections and conduct a variety of studies on natural deep water coral reefs and deep 

water shipwrecks. This was a 22-day cruise (14 October – 4 November 2010) with 17 ROV dives and an 

at sea personnel transfer. Small pieces from many coral colonies were collected for genetic studies to 

explore the connectivity between sites in different parts of the Gulf. These studies can also aid in

understanding how corals respond to stress (such as oil exposure) on the molecular level. Live corals 

were collected and transported back to our home laboratories for further study of their response to a 

variety of environmental variables. The animals that live with the corals were also studied, some so 

closely that they are considered symbionts and are always found closely associated with a particular 

species of coral.

Cruise 5

The purpose of this cruise emphasized Lophelia pertusa occurrence and growth rates on artificial 

substrates, particularly deepwater energy platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. Prior to this cruise, a number 

of factors limited our ability to conduct a comprehensive study of this nature, primarily a lack of highquality imagery and video. While several of our industry partners provided imagery and video from 

structural inspection surveys of the platforms, these products were designed for platform inspection and 

often lacked the focus on corals, resolution, and scale necessary to accurately identify coral species and 

determine growth rates or density. Therefore, this cruise was primarily conducted to collect high-quality, 

scaled images of L. pertusa and other colonial corals that occur on the vertical structures on deepwater 

energy platforms in order to augment our understanding of the distribution of L. pertusa in the Gulf of 

Mexico.

This cruise employed the Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) Kraken 2 (aka Kraken and K2) to explore 

deepwater energy platform structures and collect high-definition video, digital imagery and physical 

samples. This was a 10-day cruise from July 14 – 24, 2012 with five ROV dives. Images and video from a 

total of four platforms and one subsea installation were obtained during this cruise.

The Kraken2 ROV was used onboard the R/V Brooks McCall specifically to survey and sample platforms 

for this study. A combination of weather, ROV capabilities and problems, and concerns with 

entanglement and incomplete information from platform operators combined to compromise this research 

effort. As a result, only a few collections were made, and no community collections were accomplished. 

When it became apparent that the amount of imagery we could collect would be quite limited, the 

decision was made to concentrate on imagery appropriate to quantify L. pertusa and other colonial coral 

occurrence and growth rates, recognizing that this would preclude collection of data on fish occurrence 

and physical samples for population genetic studies. Imagery was collected from Baldpate, Jolliet, 

Cognac, and Ram Powell, as well as the Zinc subsea installation before the cruise was terminated due to 

loss of the ROV. 
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STUDY RESULTS: Fourteen (14) species of coral were collected during 2008 and 2009 cruises and 202 

octocoral individuals were collected during the 2010 cruise. Three of the species, Corallium niobe

(DC673), Paragorgia johnsoni (MC751), and Paragorgia regalis (MC294), were not known to occur in 

the Gulf of Mexico. Furthermore, the bathymetric ranges of all three species were extended. We also

collected two new species of stoloniferous coral. One constitutes a new genus, occurring at the Gulfpenn, 

VK906, VK826, and the WFL Slope. The other is a new species of Anthothela collected at GB535. Both 

species are in the process of being described. 

The first pH and total alkalinity data from the deep Gulf of Mexico was collected, which will guide 

research into the potential impact of ocean acidification on deep-water corals throughout the rest of the 

project. pH and total alkalinity data were used to calculate the aragonite saturation state at Lophelia reefs, 

which ranged from 1.25-1.69. Initial results show the aragonite saturation horizon currently at ~2,600 m 

in the GoM.

Seven historic shipwreck sites were investigated during this study. These wrecks included metal-sheathed 

wooden sailing vessels (VK Wreck, 7,000 ft Wreck, EW Bank Wreck, GC245 Wreck), two World War II 

U-boat casualties (Gulfpenn and Gulfoil), and the German U-boat, U-166. Three of these (EW Wreck, 

7,000 ft Wreck, and Gulfoil) had never been surveyed by ROV before. One of these wrecks, the 7,000 ft 

Wreck, represents the deepest known shipwreck site investigated in the Gulf of Mexico at 7,450 feet. 

Assessments of the data are providing details regarding the chronology of the wrecks, their construction, 

and site formation processes. Ongoing research is also refining our understanding of how some of these 

wrecks sank and how this information can be used to improve current shipwreck predictive models.

STUDY PRODUCTS: TDI-Brooks International Inc. 2012. Deepwater Program: Exploration and 

Research of Northern Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Natural and Artificial Hard Bottom Habitats with 

Emphasis on Coral Communities: Reef, Rigs and Wrecks “Lophelia II” Interim report for the U.S. 

Department of the Interior, BOEM Gulf of Mexico OCS Region, Metairie, LA. Contract No. 

M08PC20038. 338 pp.

TDI-Brooks International Inc. 2008. Deepwater Program: Exploration and Research of Northern Gulf of 

Mexico Deepwater Natural and Artificial Hard Bottom Habitats with Emphasis on Coral Communities: 

Reef, Rigs and Wrecks. Cruise 1 Report for the U.S. Department of the Interior, BOEM Gulf of Mexico 

OCS Region, Metairie, LA. Contract No. M08PC20038. 102 pp.

TDI-Brooks International Inc. 2009. Deepwater Program: Exploration and Research of Northern Gulf of 

Mexico Deepwater Natural and Artificial Hard Bottom Habitats with Emphasis on Coral Communities: 

Reef, Rigs and Wrecks. Cruise 2 Report for the U.S. Department of the Interior, BOEM Gulf of Mexico 

OCS Region, Metairie, LA. Contract No. M08PC20038. 87 pp.

TDI-Brooks International Inc. 2009. Deepwater Program: Exploration and Research of Northern Gulf of 

Mexico Deepwater Natural and Artificial Hard Bottom Habitats with Emphasis on Coral Communities: 

Reef, Rigs and Wrecks. Cruise 3 Report for the U.S. Department of the Interior, BOEM Gulf of Mexico 

OCS Region, Metairie, LA. Contract No. M08PC20038. 350 pp.

TDI-Brooks International Inc. 2009. Deepwater Program: Exploration and Research of Northern Gulf of 

Mexico Deepwater Natural and Artificial Hard Bottom Habitats with Emphasis on Coral Communities: 

Reef, Rigs and Wrecks. Cruise 4 Report for the U.S. Department of the Interior, BOEM Gulf of Mexico 

OCS Region, Metairie, LA. Contract No. M08PC20038. 244 pp.
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TDI-Brooks International Inc. 2012. Deepwater Program: Exploration and Research of Northern Gulf of 

Mexico Deepwater Natural and Artificial Hard Bottom Habitats with Emphasis on Coral Communities: 

Reef, Rigs and Wrecks. Cruise 5 Report for the U.S. Department of the Interior, BOEM Gulf of Mexico 

OCS Region, Metairie, LA. Contract No. M08PC20038. 26 pp.

 

Cruise 1 Cruise 2

Cruise 3 Cruise 4

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Lophelia II - Cruise 3

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NOAA Ship Ronald H Brown

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Cruise 5