Scheduled Cruises in 2004
Summary of a cruise on margins research (RUS.041)
North Atlantic and Western Mediterranean
RV Professor
Logachev
15 July 2004
18 September 2004
Polar Marine
Geosurvey Expedition
Fig - Areas visited by the RV Professor
Logachev.
The forthcoming TTR14 cruise will be carried out in the North Atlantic
and Western Mediterranean with the
RV Professor Logachev owned and operated by the Polar Marine Geosurvey
Expedition (PMGE, St. Petersburg,
Russia) from 15 July to 18 September 2004.
The cruise will start in St. Petersburg (Russia), while the embarkation
of non-Russian participants
will take place in Porto (Portugal) on 24 July. The expedition will
terminate in Naples (Italy) on 17 September.
Intermediate port calls are planned to Cadiz (Spain) on 10 - 11 August,
Cartagena (Spain) on 19 - 20 August
and Barcelona (Spain) on 1 - 2 September. The cruise programme will be
divided into 4 Legs with the total
of 8 study areas.
Gulf of Cadiz -
Porto to Cadiz
25 July 2004 - 10
August 2004
The area of the Gulf of Cadiz has been intensively studied during
several recent TTR expeditions, focussed mainly
on mud volcanism, fluid venting and related phenomena. About 20 mud
volcanoes have been discovered and confirmed
by sampling. Gas hydrates, carbonate crust and nodules, as well as
benthic chemosynthetic communities were sampled
from some of these structures. Large carbonate chimneys, related to
fluid escape were sampled and recorded by a
deep-towed video system. Within the TTR14 Cruise, further detailed
geological and geophysical investigations of
known mud volcanoes, fluid escape features, gas hydrate accumulations
and other related phenomena will be conducted,
together with searching for yet unknown structures of similar origin.
West Alboran Basin
- Cadiz to Cartagena
11 August 2004 - 19
August 2004
The notable mud-diapir province recognized in the West Alboran Basin is
formed of over-pressed
shales of the early Miocene (Burdigalian) age. The mud diapirism is
related to the middle Miocene
extensional processes, but diapirism resumed at post-Messinian time and
continuated till the
Holocene then reaching the sea floor. The planned survey will continue
the previous studies of
mud volcanoes in the Alboran Mud Diapiric Province (Northern and
Southern Sectors). The aims are:
to enlarge and complete former surveys conducted by TTR- 9 (1999) and
TTR-12 (2002) on the mud
volcano fields in the Spain and Moroccan margins of the West Alboran
Basin; to enlarge the seismic
profiling survey across mud volcanoes; to collect information around
new mud volcanoes; to image
from high-resolution MAK new mud volcanoes; and to sample mud volcano
material and related rocks.
The tectonic framework of the area as well as the volcanic basemen will
also be investigated.
Almeria-Palomares
Margin and core transect from the East Alboran to the South Balearic
Basins
11 August 2004 - 19
August 2004
Investigation of the SE Iberian continental margin and its wide-spread
deep-sea depositional systems
will be performed with the use of single-channel seismics, long-range
and deep-towed side-scan sonars,
and bottom sampling. To be studied are the expressions of active faults
on the sea bottom, recent
tectonics and turbidite systems in the Palomares margin.
Self-temperate carbonate Holocene deposits or mounds on the Almeria
Margin are among important
tasks of this leg as well.
Among other important objectives, it is planned to continue the studies
of Holocene pelagic
sedimentation in the area with the view to develop paleoclimate
reconstruction in the Western
Mediterranean during the last 20,000 years. Core transect will be
performed with the use of
heavy, 6 m long gravity corer of large diameter.
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