All SUSTAIN team members are co-authors on this article.  We describe the 2017 drilling project and the three new cored boreholes through the still-hot deposits of Surtsey volcano. The time-lapse drill cores in 1979 and 2017 record the changing geochemical, mineralogical, microbiological, and material properties of the basalt 50 years after eruptions terminated. They provide fresh insights into processes of explosive submarine volcanism and the earliest alteration of basaltic deposits proceed in a pristine oceanic environment.

These are all the members of the SUSTAIN team that contributed to this article and their professional affiliations.

Marie D. Jackson¹, Magnús T. Gudmundsson², Tobias B. Weisenberger³, J. Michael Rhodes⁴, Andri Stefánsson², Barbara I. Kleine², Peter C. Lippert¹, Joshua M. Marquardt¹, Hannah I. Reynolds², Jochem Kück⁵, Viggó T. Marteinsson^6,7, Pauline Vannier⁶, Wolfgang Bach⁸, Amel Barich^3,9, Pauline Bergsten^6,10, Julia G. Bryce¹¹, Piergiulio Cappelletti¹², Samantha Couper¹, M. Florencia Fahnestock¹¹, Carolyn F. Gorny², Carla Grimaldi¹², Marco Groh⁵, Ágúst Gudmundsson¹³, Ágúst T. Gunnlaugsson², Cédric Hamlin¹⁴, Thórdís Högnadóttir², Kristján Jónasson¹⁵, Sigurdur S. Jónsson³, Steffen L. Jørgensen¹⁴, Alexandra M. Klonowski⁷, Beau Marshall¹⁶, Erica Massey², Jocelyn McPhie¹⁷, James G. Moore¹⁸, Einar S. Ólafsson², Solveig L. Onstad¹⁴, Velveth Perez^2,15, Simon Prause³, Snorri P. Snorrason¹⁹, Andreas Türke⁶, James D. L. White²⁰, and Bernd Zimanowski²¹

¹Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

²Nordvulk, Institute of Earth Sciences, University of Iceland, Reykjavík, Iceland

³ÍSOR, Iceland GeoSurvey, Reykjavík, Iceland

⁴Department of Geosciences, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts, USA

⁵Helmholtz Centre Potsdam, GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam, Germany

⁶Matís, Exploration & Utilization of Genetic Resources, Reykjavík, Iceland

⁷Faculty of Food Science and Nutrition, University of Iceland, Reykjavík, Iceland

⁸Department of Geosciences and MARUM, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany

⁹Geothermal Research Cluster (GEORG), Reykjavik, Iceland

¹⁰Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Iceland, Reykjavík, Iceland

¹¹University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire, USA

¹²Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, dell’Ambiente e delle Risorse (DiSTAR), University FEDERICO II, Naples, Italy

¹³Jarðtaeknistofan, (GEOICE Geological Services Ltd), Hafnarfjörður, Iceland

¹⁴K.G. Jebsen Centre for Deep Sea Research, Department of Earth Science, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway

¹⁵Collections and Systematics Department, Icelandic Institute of Natural History, Gardabaer, Iceland

¹⁶DOSECC Exploration Services, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

¹⁷School of Natural Sciences, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia

¹⁸U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, California, USA

¹⁹Verkís Consulting Engineers, Reykjavík, Iceland

²⁰Geology Department, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand

²¹Institut für Geographie und Geologie, Universität Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany

Correspondence: Marie D. Jackson (m.d.jackson@utah.edu)