Teachers

Alan Gelatt (Exp. 309)
Jon Rice (Exp. 301)

Expedition 301

Cruise Objectives
Scientific Prospectus

Journal

Week 8: Aug 12 - Aug 20
Week 7: Aug 05 - Aug 11
Week 6: July 29 - Aug 04
Week 5: July 22 - July 28
Week 4: July 15 - July 21
Week 3: July 07 - July 14
Week 2: July 02 - July 06
Week 1: June 25 - July 01

23 July 2004
CORING and CORE PREPARATION
Coring continued today. I decided to take a closer look at how the core samples are prepared before they get into the core lab for the scientists to describe and sample them. Later, I stopped in a few of the labs. I found the paleomagnetism lab’s cryogenic magnetometer in action. I did notice that after a day of receiving core there wasn’t the mob of scientists on the catwalk… Everyone is over the novelty, and they are getting down to business.

Here is a partial update for today given by Adam Klaus, Expedition Project Manager/IODP-USIO Staff Scientist (USA):
Today has brought Cores 1301B-6R and -7R: 386.0 to 405.2 mbsf (120.85 to 140.04 m below the top of basement). Cored 19.2 m and recovered 3 m (15%). After cutting Core 1301B-6R and just before retrieving it, there was some minor hole trouble that had to be cleaned up before we could send the coring line down to get it. Then Core 1301B-7R drilled a bit faster with a more variable penetration rate - we also encountered some erratic and high torques... sounds like a bit of an unstable formation. The penetration rate for the first part of Core 1301B-8R has slowed back down and the torque is lower and more stable.

Presuming coring and penetration continue at the current rate and there are no serious hole problems, Mike is anticipating that we should change the bit sometime late tomorrow night. When we do this there should be a ~10 break in coring to round-trip the pipe to put a new bit on.

ENGINE ROOM TOUR: Some of you have asked me and some others about this, and I'm sorry we haven't arranged one earlier. Scott (the chief engineer) will give us a tour as soon as we want/need a break. I expect this will likely take place after the main basement coring is finished. (We also have some other places to tour).

See most everyone at 0600 tomorrow!
RETRIEVING THE CORE. Once the drilling has gone the desired depth (usually 9.5 meters), the drillers drop a sinker bar down the drill string. When it hits the core barrel, it locks into the upper end and the drillers pull it back up by a cable attached to the sinker bar. Once the core barrel is at the surface, the drill string is opened and the core barrel is pulled out. Here, the drill string is opened and the sinker bar and the upper part of the core barrel are visible.
CORE BARREL. The top of the drill string has been disconnected and lifted, exposing the core barrel (hanging by a chain in the middle of the photo). The sinker bar that was used to bring up the core barrel is hanging inside the upper part of the drill string (it has the silver-colored tip).

Saturnino (Thor) Pepito, Floorman (Philippines), and Juan (Big John) Vito, Derrickman (Philippines), are preparing to lift the core barrel to remove the core liner and, of course, the core.
CORE MEASUREMENT. Once the core liner is removed and brought down to the catwalk, the marine laboratory specialists slide all of the core to one end of the liner so the amount of core recovered can be measured. So far we are recovering about 40%; this means that for every 9.5 meters drilled, we are getting just under 4 meters of cored rock samples (this is very good for drilling relatively young basement rocks). After this step is completed, the microbiologists will collect their samples, and then the portion of the core liner containing samples will be cut into 1.5 meter sections and brought into the core lab for processing.

Paula Weiss, Marine Laboratory Specialist and Curator (USA); Bob Wheatley, Marine Laboratory Specialist (USA); and Takamitsu Sugihara, Marine Laboratory Specialist (Japan), are holding the core liner while Mark Lever, Microbiologist (USA); Mark Nielson, Physical Properties Specialist (USA) (behind Paula’s helmet); and Adam Klaus, Expedition Project Manager/IODP-USIO Staff Scientist (USA), look on.
CORE SPLITTING ROOM. After the core has been logged, it is brought into the core splitting room. The technicians cut the core liner in half lengthwise. They then lay the core out and match those broken sections together that fit together like the pieces of a puzzle. Once this is done, the petrologists will be able to come in and complete the tasks of spacing the samples and marking individual pieces for splitting.

Paula Weiss, Marine Laboratory Specialist and Curator (USA); Steve Prinz, Marine Laboratory Specialist (USA); and Takamitsu Sugihara, Marine Laboratory Specialist (Japan), are preparing the expedition’s second core for the petrologists.
MICROBIOLOGY SAMPLE. The core has been prepared for the petrologists. However, Mark Lever, Microbiologist (USA), needs to collect a sample for his research. His sample must be collected before the core dries out and damages the microorganisms that Mark wants to study. Once he selects his sample, Rosalind (Roz) Coggon, Igneous and Metamorphic Petrologist (UK), and Masumi Sakaguchi, Igneous and Metamorphic Petrologist (Japan), will describe them for the archives. The samples will then be photographed. Mark will then be able to take his samples.

Next, Roz and Masumi will examine the core and mark it for splitting. The marine laboratory specialists will use their marks to cut the core samples in half lengthwise along the core. One half of the core will be available to the scientists for collecting samples (this is called the “working half”). The other half is for describing and non-destructive analyses (this is called the “archive half”). All of the cores will be stored in one of several IODP core repositories which can be thought of as libraries containing seafloor stories of the Earth’s formation, and past ocean and climate conditions.
PHOTOGRAPHIC ARCHIVE. Now that Mark has selected his sample, Bill Crawford, Image Specialist (USA), must take a photograph of it to permanently document the sample to be taken. (It will be put into the IODP database so scientists can use it for research and scientific publications). Paula Weiss, Marine Laboratory Specialist and Curator (USA), points out the sample that will be removed. In the background, Tetsuro Urabe, Co-Chief Scientist (Japan), examines the core and Takeshi Tsuji, Logging Scientist (Japan), waits to view the core.
LABELING THE CORE. Eric Jackson, Marine Laboratory Specialist (USA), and Takamitsu Sugihara, Marine Laboratory Specialist (Japan), carefully label each rock piece in each 1.5-m long section of the core so they can be tracked down and placed back in their corresponding places when they are removed from the core to be analyzed. These are very valuable pieces of rock!
SAMPLING CONTINUES. Marion Dumont, Organic Geochemist (Sweden), and Anne Bartetzko, Logging Scientist (Germany), collect samples with assistance from Paula Weiss, Marine Laboratory Specialist and Curator (USA). Because Marion’s research involves organic carbon, the cores must be handled with latex gloves, in order to prevent contamination, until her sampling is complete.
RESEARCH BEGINS. The arrival of core sparks research throughout the science labstack. Here Lisa Hawkins, Undergraduate Student Trainee (USA), prepares samples for paleomagnetic analysis using the cryogenic magnetometer as Will Sager, Paleomagnetist (USA), uses a computer to initiate the sampling sequence.

Trevor Cobine, Marine Laboratory Specialist (Australia), and David Fackler, Application Developer (USA), are working in the background.
Takeshi Tsuji, Logging Scientist (Japan) is in the Physical Properties Laboratory determining compressional-wave velocity values in basalt samples. The machine he is working on sends a sound wave through the sample. It then uses the thickness of the sample, and the time that the sound takes to go through the rock to calculate its “velocity.”