Photo gallery

Expedition team members in heat-resistant suits climb into a fresh lava tube in southern Iceland in search of newly deposited minerals and the first microscopic signs of life. (Robbie Shone, National Geographic)

Thermo Fisher Scientific’s Rogier Miltenburg, center, demonstrates the features of the company’s portable SEM to expedition team members. (Vittorio Crobu, La Venta)

Mount Fagradalsfjall in southern Iceland first erupted in March 2021, after eight centuries of dormancy. It quickly became a tourist attraction because the terrain is more accessible than many volcanos, the lava flow was effusive, rather than explosive, and it is located only 30 miles from Reykjavik, the nation's capitol, and 25 miles from the international airport. (Shutterstock)

Expedition team members carefully make their way across a cooled lava flow. (Robbie Shone, National Geographic)

Expedition leader Francesco Sauro, president of the Association La Venta, an organization focused on geographical exploration in extreme environments, emerges from a dangerously hot lava tube. (Robbie Shone, National Geographic)

Expedition team member Bogdan Onac, a mineralogist from the University of Southern Florida, discusses images of samples taken from the fresh lava tubes using the Thermo Scientific Phenom XL G2, a portable scanning electron microscope, pictured in background. (Robbie Shone, National Geographic)

A mineral sample on the wall of a fresh lava tube. (Vittorio Crobu, La Venta)

Thermo Fisher’s portable SEM enables highly magnified images of bacteria samples taken from the lava tubes. (Rogier Miltenburg, Thermo Fisher Scientific)

Thermo Fisher’s portable SEM enables highly magnified images of bacteria samples taken from the lava tubes. (Rogier Miltenburg, Thermo Fisher Scientific)

The expedition team erected a tent on the volcano to serve as their basecamp where they gathered each day to analyze samples. (Rogier Miltenburg, Thermo Fisher Scientific)