Coring The Ocean Floor

RESEARCH VESSEL (R.V.) MAURICE EWING

Deep-sea sediment cores come from the ocean floor. The only way to get them is to go to sea by ship. A scientist proposes a study requiring use of deep-sea sediment,and upon approval and award of a research grant, begins plans for a research "cruise". These plans begin at least two years in advance, frequently more. There will be many scientists onboard, many technicians to help with coring and shipboard research on the sediment, computer programmers for the databases and data handling, and students. There will also be equipment specific to that particular cruise -- coring gear and supplies, computers, and laboratory equipment. It is a large scale effort to get everyone and all the equipment onboard the ship.

Most cores now-a-days are taken for environmental studies with climate-related research the major focus. You can see results of work on cores at this site.

This chart shows a "cruise track" starting with where the members of a cruise boarded the R.V. MAURICE EWING in Reykjavik, Iceland, each stop (the red dots) it made to take a core, and where the cruise ended (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts). A total of 43 cores were taken, represented by the red dots on the chart. You can follow along with this cruise beginning with when the flight bearing our research crew and equipment from the United States landed in Iceland, through our return to Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution with a full load of deep-sea mud.

Go on a Cruise -- research cruise, that is. The word "cruise" sounds like a luxurious voyage on an ocean liner to the Bahamas or Majorca. Not so, these research cruises. They are frequently from one, up to three months duration, barefeet are not allowed, everyone is on call around-the-clock, no television, and phone calls limited to emergencies. But the food is usually wonderful and abundant for the hard-working crew and members of the expeditions.

Start Here	Hauling Up The Core
Core Rig Positioned	Visit Iceland

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All photos (except R.V. Ewing: LDEO Marine Office Archives) taken by and are property of R.L. Bond.

For more information, contact Rusty Lotti Bond (curator@ldeo.columbia.edu). Comments are welcomed. Last update of this page was February 28, 2003.