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Lava flows of known age are rare on the mid-ocean ridge system. The only such flow on the Gorda Ridge erupted during an intense seismic swarm in Feb.-March 1996. We revisited the 1996 eruption site on the northern Gorda Ridge with the ROV Tiburon in August 2005. The lava flow, although less than 10 years old, has accumulated noticeable sediment, the glossy sheen on the pillow flow is now a dull finish, and sessile fauna have begun to colonize it. With more extensive surveys, we found that the flow is significantly smaller than originally proposed, consisting of a northern mound extending from 42.688 N to 42.675 N and a small southern mound centered at 42.67 N, separated by about 1 km of older flows. A Tiburon dive in 2002 also shows that the hypothesized flow 5-7 km farther south is all older, so the 1996 eruption was limited to the two small pillow mounds. The northern mound is unusual in that it …