Scheduled Cruises in 2004
Summary of a cruise on margins research (RUS.042)
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.
Balearic Islands -
Cartagena to Barcelona
20 August 2004 - 1
September 2004
Four slides in the Balearic Margin of the Eivissa Channel are planned
to be imaged during the
survey. Previous available information consists of swath bathymetry
data and high resolution
seismic profiles. Slides occur in water depths ranging from 600 to 900
m. Geometry of their
headwall scars reveal evidence of pockmarks, and fluid escape features
are also present further
upslope. Additional sampling and survey might be conducted on the
seamount north of the area
for potential carbonate systems. Acoustic imagery of these slides,
coring and video-profiling
will complete their characterization.
Acoustic imagery and 5 kHz profiles will allow also to better constrain
the area of other
slide NW Majorka and amount of sediment involved, as long as its
implications on the sediment
dynamics of poor known part of the Balearic Margin.
Catalan margin and
Gulf of Lion
20 August 2004 - 1
September 2004
Several tasks are to be studied on the Catalan margin and in the Gulf
of Lion. Acoustic
survey is planned to be performed in the area of slide development on
the Catalan Margin
very close to the capital city of Barcelona to study an amount of
sediment involved, as
well as sediment dynamics and risk of geologic hazard of this area. The
scientific objective
for other site is to obtain complete side scan sonar coverage of the
zone between the Cap
de Creus and La Fonera canyons and the canyon system. The bathymetric
data unveiled here several
bathymetric steps corresponding to complex systems of rotational
slides. These slides are
limited by listric faults related to thick associated sediment bodies.
A better acoustic imagery
of these slide complexes will allow a better understanding of the
sedimentary processes
and the canyon development. Additional the canyon system north of the
survey area will be
studied by means of side scan sonar and ground-truthing samples. The
main objective in the
third area is to obtain a comprehensive acoustic map of the scoured
area, in order to better
visualize the interplay of scouring processes and sand supply from the
canyons. It is
intended to overlap the EM300 data in order to correlate the two
datasets, especially for
understanding the acoustic signature of sandy deposits. This will allow
distinguishing the
various recent sedimentary events that occurred in this critical area
where sediments are
supplied by both the Rhône sedimentary systems and the
Pyreneo-Languedocian canyons. The
simultaneous use of a high frequency sub-bottom profiler would allow to
establish a detailed
stratigraphy of these events, based on available cores. This area was
partly surveyed by
two MAK 1 tracks during the 1992 TTR 2 cruise. Other objective is to
map the termination of
the neofan channel. This will allow constraining the morphology of a
terminal lobe, as seen
on recent unpublished EM300 data. The sedimentary body corresponds to
the final deposition of
the turbidite products from the channel. It may collect important
amounts of sand and
contain individual bodies of several sizes.
Sardinia margin
(Tyrrhenian Sea) - Barcelona to Naples
2 September 2004 - 16
September 2004
The Sardinian margin is characterized by the upper (around 1700 m deep)
intraslope Sardinia Basin
and by the lower (around 2500 m deep) Cornaglia Basin separated by the
Quirra-Baronie structural
high, inherited from the rift stage extensional tectonics. Numerous
canyons with highly variable
morphology dissect the Sardinian upper slope. The Gonone-Orosei canyon
system is the largest and
represents a major erosional incision that spans the slope for a width
of around 20 km. The base
of slope is mainly characterized by channalized lobes with lateral
dimensions up to 20 km that
develop at the mouth of the main canyons. In the central portion of the
Sardinia Basin, the main
morphobathymetric features is represented by the Sarrabus Canyon that
originates at a depth of
around 1600 m and enlarges downslope to reach a width of 2 km and a
negative relief of 150 m.
It finally breaches the Sardinia intraslope basin margin through a
relay structure along the
Quirra tectonic lineament. Upslope of the Sarrabus Canyon, the central
portion of the basin is
characterized by a large erosional belt that presents features typical
of submarine braided
valley. A similar erosional valley occupies the central sector of the
basin north of Orosei
Canyon. After crossing the Quirra-Baronie tectonic lineament, the
Sarrabus and Orosei-Gonone
canyons join in the Sardinian Valley, a depositional channel that feeds
sediment to the lower
slope, flat-lying Cornaglia Basin. The channel crosses the Cornaglia
basin, ultimately reaching
the Vavilov deep-sea plain, at -3400 metres depth.
Investigations will focus on the study of the different segments of the
transport pathways in
order to determine how sedimentary processes vary in response to the
slope sectors traversed.
Intended methods are deep-tow sidescan sonar surveys and sampling.
Stromboli/Marsili
basin (Tyrrhenian Sea)
2 September 2004 - 16
September 2004
Typified by Vulcano and Stromboli Islands, arc volcanism in the
Tyrrhenian Sea is presently
active and responding to the dynamics of the geological environment in
the southern Tyrrhenian.
Stromboli Island has been affected by repeated flank collapse events of
Sciara del Fuoco and
the structure of its submarine flanks is the result of the interaction
of the related erosional
and depositional processes with the present-day sedimentary dynamics.
The Sciara del Fuoco
volcaniclastic material progrades into the deep sea portion of the
Stromboli canyon which
subsequently funnels a large input of sedimentary material into the
Marsili abyssal plain.
As a result, a deep-sea fan spans almost the whole eastern portion of
the Marsili basin. The
recent 2003 eruption of the volcano and collapse event of the Sciara
del Fuoco, renders the
study of the flanks and deeper portions of the Stromboli/Marsili
depositional system an
important target for understanding the fate of the material and the
processes involved in
events of catastrophic volcanic island flank collapse. Intended methods
are deep-tow side
scan sonar surveys and sampling.
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