Cruise Summaries
2012
The Future of El Nino: Sediment coring, seismic surveys
Cruise dates: May 1 – May 25 2012
An upcoming research expedition on the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory research vessel Marcus G. Langseth will map and sample sediments along the Line Islands in the central equatorial Pacific. The expedition, led by Jean Lynch-Stieglitz (Georgia Tech) and Pratigya Polissar (LDEO) will recover surface and long piston cores that will provide sediment material to study the past changes in the marine Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) as well as the behavior of El-Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO).
Blog: http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/research/blogs/future-el-nino
Cruise Dates: March 24th-April 16th
Shatsky Rise in the northwest Pacific is one of the gigantic oceanic plateaus, and has been chosen as a top-priority target given its unique tectonic setting such as the formation on the ridge-ridge-ridge triple junction during frequent magnetic polarity reversals. In the summer of 2010, a combined 2D MCS/OBS survey was conducted with R/V Marcus Langseth, and the OBS seismic refraction experiment was completed in full. About one third of the planned MCS reflection lines were, however, left for a future cruise, because the cruise was disrupted twice by medical diversions, each of which took about a week owing to the remoteness of the study area.
Cruise Dates: Seismic Data Collection Feb. 1st - March 1st, 2012
Part II -OBS Pickup March 3rd - March 22nd, 2012
This project will utilize active- and passive source seismic techniques, using short period and broad band OBSs, respectively, in the Mariana forearc, trench, and outer rise, in order to image the distribution of upper mantle serpentinization. This study will address a central question regarding the importance of serpentinite for understanding subduction zones. The research will quantify the flux of water subducted by upper-mantle serpentinite, and explore the relationships between serpentinization and seismicity in the outer forearc and outer rise.