tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-91855572502161507892024-02-02T02:11:28.979-08:00Slides in the deepUnravelling the history of submarine landslides and tsunami in the North Atlantic. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10243338071659226030noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9185557250216150789.post-32789237318459782172014-07-26T19:03:00.000-07:002014-07-26T19:03:00.028-07:00The Mid-Atlantic Ridge<style>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">At the northern end of our travels we are looking at the
Bear Island Fan. This is one of the largest packages of fan sediments in the
world. It extends from the continental shelf just south of Bear Island
westwards to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR). We wanted to see if any of the
debris flows that make up the fan reach the centre of the MAR. This gave us an
opportunity to survey along this dramatic structure to see if there was a
suitable site to sample. First as we approached the ridge we could see on the
3.5kHz pinger records blocks of rock protruding through the well layered
sediments. The multibeam showed that these blocks were parallel to the MAR and
increasing in height and extent as we moved towards to the actual ridge.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Then we reached the ridge itself. As we steamed along its
axis with Pelagia’s starboard side above
the European Plate and its port side above the American Plate the multibeam
display was a confirmation of all those sketch diagrams on plate tectonics explaining
the formation of oceanic crust at spreading centres, with each line of multibeam
data added to the swath showed ridges parallel to the axis or evidence of
volcanic activity. The ridge exhibits sudden large changes in bathymetry that makes
following the seabed on the 3.5kHz pinger involve frequent changes of the display
offset. It showed the rocky seafloor but we could see no thick sequences of
sediments so we moved away to investigate the debris flows at the edge of the
Bear Island Fan only a short distance to the east where we recovered a 10m long
core with a very good record of the Bear Island Fan. </span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLewFptKeOoitiQM20T30-SLWW3foKYz8eHH63tMBWtMDvaJR4rRml7DtLv0eoDkTZ227gBSD2TSusY0sS2s9-GK_t-kKwLkXgjPCCpg0no6FgiyvOAbdLOb7x1WzfDzt-cpjw-9pP1nvr/s1600/MAR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLewFptKeOoitiQM20T30-SLWW3foKYz8eHH63tMBWtMDvaJR4rRml7DtLv0eoDkTZ227gBSD2TSusY0sS2s9-GK_t-kKwLkXgjPCCpg0no6FgiyvOAbdLOb7x1WzfDzt-cpjw-9pP1nvr/s1600/MAR.jpg" height="183" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Image from the Swath multibeam onboard the RV Pelagia of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">David Long</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10243338071659226030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9185557250216150789.post-48334197098246503192014-07-25T15:03:00.003-07:002014-07-25T15:39:41.219-07:00Trænadjupet Slide<style>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: small;">So we've heard about the
Afen Slide and seen some of the great cores from the Trænadjupet Slide, as well
the wide array of sediment types that exist within them. Here's a little
background on why the Trænadjupet Slide is important and what the cores might
tell us.</span><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
</span></span><br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Extent of the Trænadjupet Slide (Courtesy of
SpringerLink)</span></i></span>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">We know from recent
submarine landslides (Grand Banks, 1929), and from the geological record
(Storegga, ~6000 BC), that submarine landslides have the potential to cause
tsunami evens similar to the 2004 Christmas tsunami in the Indian Ocean.
Despite this tsunami-causing potential, the Trænadjupet Slide appears to have
left little or no evidence of a tsunami on nearby coastlines as one might
expect. Tsunamis often deposit marine sand much higher up on land than normal
coastal processes and thus we have a record of the event stored for us to
study. There are some potential deposits being explored, but there is still
some debate about the significance of these deposits. Much of the uncertainty
arises due to a lack of sufficient age-control on when the Trænadjupet Slide
took place. Uncertainty also surrounds how fast the collapse happened and how
fast it moved. Fast moving landslides
will tend to have more of an impact than those that move slowly or those that
fail in multiple smaller stages.</span> </span></span><br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Schematic of how underwater landslides can cause
tsunami waves (Courtesy of IranPetroTech)</span></i></span>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">So, where do the cores come
in? Cores will be used to radiocarbon date marine background sediment which has
accumulated on top of the landslide debris, and help constrain how old it is.
Cores also allow us to look at the internal morphology of the slide and how the
debris is distributed both spatially and in time. If the slide took place in
numerous small stages rather than as one large failure, it may not have had
enough energy to create a tsunami. The cores and radiocarbon dating will help
us to better understand why this slide might not have generated a tsunami which
will assist in assessing the tsunami risk to countries with nearby continental
margins.</span>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tsunami deposits
within terrestrial soil on The Shetland Islands</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Josh Allin</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10243338071659226030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9185557250216150789.post-52946859670633027512014-07-25T14:52:00.000-07:002014-07-25T15:41:06.236-07:00Progress in the Far NorthAfter a successful coring campaign to date, and the continuing excellent weather, we are now moving towards our most northerly site at 74° north. We have now collected over 300m of piston core from a range of sites in the Nordic Seas, and are now focused on collecting samples that will help us to understand the timing of deposition of sediments on the Bear Island Fan. This feature is one of the largest depositional formations on earth, and we are hoping to understand the timing of sediment delivery to the slope, and hopefully this will inform our research on slope stability.<br />
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The weather has made a turn for the worse, we currently have 5-6 meter swells and the temperature feels truly "Arctic" today, so much so that we experimented with the survival suits and the padded thermal boiler suits whilst working on deck this morning!<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10243338071659226030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9185557250216150789.post-7268027045019671902014-07-19T04:07:00.001-07:002014-07-19T05:10:11.097-07:00Glorious Mud.We have been coring in the Traenadjupet region, and have seen some fabulous examples of a range of processes recorded in the mud. We are hopeful for some great results from these cores, though this will take some time to work up, but in the meantime, here are a few examples of some of the wonderfully colourful and exciting mud cores we have taken recently:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWWDELQMrtF3ilhmcdckgB5xQWoACg8FN4wTd2SXlcXc49Z8ZWx5WIvB5RcGEUGOdz1Mvsf74OqKwc25QiRby3OBAvpOFBN-FDJeEa0kehR1UmETg_90Lj7u9aYKLREUqZQxyYPxNo5I44/s1600/IMG_1336.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWWDELQMrtF3ilhmcdckgB5xQWoACg8FN4wTd2SXlcXc49Z8ZWx5WIvB5RcGEUGOdz1Mvsf74OqKwc25QiRby3OBAvpOFBN-FDJeEa0kehR1UmETg_90Lj7u9aYKLREUqZQxyYPxNo5I44/s1600/IMG_1336.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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This layer has been described as the Pistachio Green horizon after its distinctive colour. This was the first core we found it in, though it has appeared in several others. The exact chemistry and mineralogy of the layer will be part of the post cruise work, but this is an unusual colour, and will unfortunately fade over time.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic-rgyWz3Un7XWMA1hRxs4e9GH8vtQo1xBqvUQ4lmvxEuh2J_Gslg3Mph6WNM5EP4GVL0bgSDaPnKLaeva6yGNRjreN1KHstRlYQc4EZjbKH1ER3ZrEFYaA4GKr2Q3MMdP4y9jM67w0IzL/s1600/IMG_1353.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic-rgyWz3Un7XWMA1hRxs4e9GH8vtQo1xBqvUQ4lmvxEuh2J_Gslg3Mph6WNM5EP4GVL0bgSDaPnKLaeva6yGNRjreN1KHstRlYQc4EZjbKH1ER3ZrEFYaA4GKr2Q3MMdP4y9jM67w0IzL/s1600/IMG_1353.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQzNFXomO3D5rybaqqFZD5NSPAwFRhvrohK5VMEf7pjC1bCR2wMa_56wuxQdy6Ctn4r4SZKaYOHxeIpo-XaOr_dV0wtmqFLDXYYD5PGH1D1pJauYU7WX5RHJ3migQpGGcwgQveqfwHQciy/s1600/IMG_1347.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQzNFXomO3D5rybaqqFZD5NSPAwFRhvrohK5VMEf7pjC1bCR2wMa_56wuxQdy6Ctn4r4SZKaYOHxeIpo-XaOr_dV0wtmqFLDXYYD5PGH1D1pJauYU7WX5RHJ3migQpGGcwgQveqfwHQciy/s1600/IMG_1347.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
This very unusual deposit looks remarkabaly like a butterfly, but is in fact a series of mud boulders that were caught up in a submarine landslide. The mud would have been partially consolidated at the time, and the layers ripped up and rolled into boulders, which we have then cored through.<br />
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This picture is a close up of one of these contorted mud boulders, and shows that the sequences of colours is symmetrical across the pale brown horizon. When interpreted as having symmetry, andthe fact that these layers terminate against the side of the core, we can be sure that they are boulders of mud and not an artefact of the coring process, which can sometimes cause disturbance to the layers, as seen below:<br />
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The darker mud visible in the centre of the core is running from top to bottom, and there are very few processes that can produce this type of feature. It could be bioturbation, the traces left behind by burrowing fauna that are infilled by sediment, but in our current location in very deep water, this is too large a burrow to be possible. This is unfortunately a product of suction at the base of the core, which can cause mud from the base to be injected upwards into stratigraphically higher layers. This limits the usefulness of the core, but is normally confined to the lower sections. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXBAF-Kq5wDnT1elPWyNBW1DXnb0U8XN3BfmDT6Ca6GG6uoNgF9V72JDJ9iA9CixHpzc77gndSHkpnnu-qirNd7oZYUcrm135tOfWdpnH7RP7DuOFeHRGXX1TsQLDcfWf3fyq2CQBxwBLk/s1600/IMG_1335.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXBAF-Kq5wDnT1elPWyNBW1DXnb0U8XN3BfmDT6Ca6GG6uoNgF9V72JDJ9iA9CixHpzc77gndSHkpnnu-qirNd7oZYUcrm135tOfWdpnH7RP7DuOFeHRGXX1TsQLDcfWf3fyq2CQBxwBLk/s1600/IMG_1335.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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The unusual black block in the lower core is a boulder of peat that was caught in the flow. It is surrounded by clasts of mud set in a sandy matrix, typical of the type of deposit left by a large submarine landslide. The peat boulder is spongy and soft, and will be useful for us to determine where the flow originated as it should contain macrofossils and pollen.<br />
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This wonderful striped section is from a deep basin core, and each of the layers represents a very distal deposit from the submarine landslide. Cores like this one have the deposits separated by a thin section of hemipelagite: "normal" marine sedimentation whcih contains forams and potentially other material that will allow us to date each event. These long basin records are one of the key objectives of the project, areas that capture a long record will allow us to assess how frequently landslides happen, whilst the cores taken on top of the landslides are helping us to understand what makes some landslides tsunamigenic or not.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZwzL76rUaw56g9P9ulsCD_PsP_WdtyvELNvYZlORQ1aPHY55cehS6vieJ9HIWNdzkITrrl4s52KBmIbRjbQ2l8oMtte5owFG8V5LfCAV9b-QBfAs5kLzDUJvEnv9OcrRIhcV4-75PaXYp/s1600/IMG_1420.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZwzL76rUaw56g9P9ulsCD_PsP_WdtyvELNvYZlORQ1aPHY55cehS6vieJ9HIWNdzkITrrl4s52KBmIbRjbQ2l8oMtte5owFG8V5LfCAV9b-QBfAs5kLzDUJvEnv9OcrRIhcV4-75PaXYp/s1600/IMG_1420.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
This final picture shows some very pretty laminations, couplets of sediment that will be part of our research into sedimentation patterns on the margin. They appear only in certain locations and within small sections of core, and are potentially the result of seasonal/cyclic changes in sediment source or the energy of the current.<br />
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Millie<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10243338071659226030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9185557250216150789.post-79865726595836802352014-07-14T21:54:00.000-07:002014-07-14T21:55:05.125-07:00The triggers<style>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">68.5<sup>o</sup>N 8<sup>o</sup>E</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Notes: Sun has now not set for three days, although the
weather has been overcast for the last two days. Graveyard shift currently
leads the daytime shift by 17 to 11 cores, not that we are counting. Alessandro
is pretty poor at darts. There is a storm coming!!!!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Core Puns: </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">He who dares.....Cores</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The Good, the Bad and the Corer</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Cora! Cora! Cora!</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The Italian Core</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Return of the Corer</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Cool Coring</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The Beauty and the Corer</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">101 Cores</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Core Story</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Harry Potter and the Half Sand Core</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The Core</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Reservoir Cores </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">One of the purposes of the 2014 Pelagia Cruise is to collect
information relating to the triggering of submarine landslides. Many possible
triggers for submarine landslides have been identified. These include
earthquakes, rapid sedimentation and gas hydrate dissociation. Working out the
specific triggering factor behind individual slides is, however, extremely
difficult. Which factor has preconditioned the slope to failure? Which factor
has triggered the actual slope failure? Today I was covered in 4000 year old
mud by certain members of the night shift (Camilla Watts), what the actual
reason for this is unclear <i>[Editorial note: it was well deserved]</i>. Was it the fact that I was inanely putting the word
core or corer in film and book titles for two hours? Was it because I thought
Harry Potter deserved to be kicked in the shin or because I have never watched
or am not likely to watch Game of Thrones? Or was it because I have been
talking constantly about ball sports for the last year? Or was it that she
randomly got bored and decided it was a good idea?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV8Hslo8wKGxQkr9Jcl3qqquNCvvgDv98xOCrcmh3RHzaOgS0gDQg3rxh6Y1XztJpCqSrzMouD03M6BLbtSZsMIK98gSwZvSomA62DdoyLZqYHvlArh66k-iXVTpfr3pSppjVua73mBaWx/s1600/IMG_1311.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV8Hslo8wKGxQkr9Jcl3qqquNCvvgDv98xOCrcmh3RHzaOgS0gDQg3rxh6Y1XztJpCqSrzMouD03M6BLbtSZsMIK98gSwZvSomA62DdoyLZqYHvlArh66k-iXVTpfr3pSppjVua73mBaWx/s1600/IMG_1311.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivw_h1ZgWkwxk0hyF82PAWCWTSIi1smkMUGLW7LLPWiGQvVZyQ2qR9V4QhTrRCDjFFp73FkDN-oPBi5xZu22Xl46Y9YkPA-pQR3z-9QwhmBoMgxx-CZYCprS-rXjp2QrkWI3K3EoqocIf7/s1600/IMG_1338.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Although a submarine landslide will not be triggered by a
poor pun this example indicates the complexity of the question that we are
attempting to answer. Many of the submarine landslides around the Norwegian
Basin are closely associated with the numerous trough mouth fans which line the
continental slope. These features are produced by ice sheets. Glacial ice is a
much more effective erosive agent of sediment and bedrock than rivers and is
therefore able to deliver extremely large volumes of sediment to the
continental margin very quickly. Rapid sediment loading from ice streams (areas
of extremely fast flowing ice) is thought to lead to high pore pressures and
instabilities which could lead to failure. Similarly dissociation of gas
hydrates, an ice like crystalline structure, into their gaseous constituent
parts can also generate high pore pressures which could lead to failure of the sediment.
Dissociation of gas hydrates can be caused by a number of factors. These
include pressure changes related to changes in sea level and temperature
changes caused by ocean warming and cooling. Whilst these factors could trigger
a submarine landslide, they could equally precondition the slope to fail.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Where rapid deposition of sediment gas hydrate dissociation
has generated a slope preconditioned to fail a further trigger may be needed in
order to actually achieve failure. In many cases this trigger is an earthquake.
Shaking of the sediment can lead to a loss of structure and subsequent failure.
Large magnitude earthquakes are currently relatively rare around the margins of
the Norwegian basin. However, as we moved out of the last glacial period
earthquake magnitudes in this region increased in response to glacial unloading
of the crust as the ice sheets retreated. These earthquakes may therefore have
represented a common trigger for many events. Despite the increase in magnitude
of earthquakes associated with crustal rebound, not all earthquakes will cause
slope failure to occur. Some might even lead to a strengthening of the sediment
and reduced likelihood of slope failure. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I hope from this post that it is clear that isolating an
individual trigger for large submarine landslides is extremely difficult and
presents one of the main questions to be addressed as part of the landslide
tsunami project. Only with precise dating of the landslides will we increase
the possibility of linking landslides to individual triggering mechanisms,
although this may in fact be impossible. Who knows?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Ed Pope </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivw_h1ZgWkwxk0hyF82PAWCWTSIi1smkMUGLW7LLPWiGQvVZyQ2qR9V4QhTrRCDjFFp73FkDN-oPBi5xZu22Xl46Y9YkPA-pQR3z-9QwhmBoMgxx-CZYCprS-rXjp2QrkWI3K3EoqocIf7/s1600/IMG_1338.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivw_h1ZgWkwxk0hyF82PAWCWTSIi1smkMUGLW7LLPWiGQvVZyQ2qR9V4QhTrRCDjFFp73FkDN-oPBi5xZu22Xl46Y9YkPA-pQR3z-9QwhmBoMgxx-CZYCprS-rXjp2QrkWI3K3EoqocIf7/s1600/IMG_1338.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></span></span></div>
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</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10243338071659226030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9185557250216150789.post-2525748649301413492014-07-13T18:21:00.002-07:002014-07-13T18:21:44.361-07:00Progress so far…<style>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">We have had a really successful coring campaign so far,
after three days of fairly intensive activity we have collected over 20 cores, from
a variety of sites. One of our first objectives was to core both inside and
outside a set of large cracks close to the Storegga Slide, these features are
over 100m wide, and have not yet been reliably dated. The cores we retrieved we
quite spectacular, with abundant carbonised material and several distinct
horizons that will allow us to correlate the cores, and refine the date at
which these cracks formed. </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHBCIq6ga5HZmXrKtP2SCrfynfSd0LZEITgW1zUpOQuDnZZx3ZFPILl-5br0mG8Qhke2X8fzFuguL9KlmQI1zKxPZsJkwwoNGEIJP7vhMeAhhTI3Urj1cJr9-R918TmU75C4Ml398kHN1t/s1600/IMG_1285.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHBCIq6ga5HZmXrKtP2SCrfynfSd0LZEITgW1zUpOQuDnZZx3ZFPILl-5br0mG8Qhke2X8fzFuguL9KlmQI1zKxPZsJkwwoNGEIJP7vhMeAhhTI3Urj1cJr9-R918TmU75C4Ml398kHN1t/s1600/IMG_1285.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">James and Matthieu assessing a core during the night shift.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">As we moved north over the Voring Plateau, we crossed a
large pockmark field, which is the subject of current research at NOC. We
managed to collect two 12 m cores here, one from within a Pockmark and one from
the adjacent sea bed. The pockmark core still contained small amounts of
methane clathrate when it was cut on deck, nice to see as we had expected in to
have dissociated before reaching the surface, however, they have a particularly
unpleasant to smell!</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
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<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">We are currently in the Traendajupet region, looking at the
nature of the landslide here, and hoping to collect a variety of data to help
us understand how the landslide moved, when it happened and how much material
was involved. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
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<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Life on board has settled into a steady rhythm of shifts, to
maximise our time at sea we are split into two teams, the night shift run s
from midnight to noon, and day shift for the opposing 12 hours. We have three
meals a day, though the night shift tends to sleep through dinner, and the same
for the day shift at breakfast. The chef of board is fantastic, and we have
been spoilt with food, our main meal is always at lunch time, normally a soup,
main and desert, and he leaves the night shift something tasty in the fridge
for when we get hungry in the very early hours of the morning, the lasagne was
definitely a high point! </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">We have a daily science meeting at midnight on the shift
change, to catch everyone up on the plans for day, where we are surveying and
how many cores to take in each location. We have several intense days of work
between now and Wednesday, and though we have been fortunate with the weather
so far, this is likely to change on Sunday night as a storm heads our way,
however we are not expecting anything too severe. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The plan for the next week is to continue to the northern
edge of our study area, hopefully with as much good luck as we have had with
the cores to date, before heading back towards Iceland, then back into Bergen
for the 31<sup>st</sup>. </span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibo42PFxPcZ9ihi-QNV6LAbeA_RRXPKrVuY5ORV0xhDS8Dh3tO9Zzign-CQ1A3uNDuCAPfVm98DqfeAlWNB6jP-DD4GKM14x6vIw1yEBltOfbG11GWaXrfD16zIAaZRfPpuOVkS69NBxe9/s1600/IMG_1318.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibo42PFxPcZ9ihi-QNV6LAbeA_RRXPKrVuY5ORV0xhDS8Dh3tO9Zzign-CQ1A3uNDuCAPfVm98DqfeAlWNB6jP-DD4GKM14x6vIw1yEBltOfbG11GWaXrfD16zIAaZRfPpuOVkS69NBxe9/s1600/IMG_1318.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10243338071659226030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9185557250216150789.post-73969449125955254532014-07-10T20:04:00.003-07:002014-07-11T00:37:10.668-07:00Big things in small shells<style>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">Contrary to
popular belief, euphemisms, idioms and trite sayings often have little
relevance to real life. Foraminifera on the other hand, lend credibility to the
notion that big things do indeed come in small packages.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">Foraminifera
are small single-celled marine organisms; more specifically known as Protists.
They exist at various depths within the oceans but are most commonly found in
shallow waters above 50 m. Many feed on small marine plants and other detritus,
but some are carnivorous and feed on other smaller species. They have lived in
the oceans for millions of years and are found throughout every ocean on Earth.
This fact makes them remarkably useful in studying ancient oceans.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">Many species
construct their shells out of calcium carbonate (CaCO<sub>3</sub>), while others
construct it using fragments of other shells, or even grains of sand. The CaCO<sub>3</sub>
which makes up the shell contains a record of a large number of environmental
variables which can help us understand the past ocean. Carbon and Oxygen both
have 2 stable isotopes (<sup>12</sup>C, <sup>13</sup>C, <sup>16</sup>O and <sup>18</sup>O
respectively). The record of past changes in these isotopes locked in these
Foraminifera shells can be used to infer changes in water mass distribution,
changes in ice volume on land and nutrient distribution in the oceans. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPRb0L26Mv_OgFqOVNW2Ad_05q3hGttTHcg9E0XcIuLEQSDpAUYK_mh0Ra81s6wTv9lEAGiiIE0bQ0rbXKSMOsrBmh_llIQbGN2LchLb0fOPte-QrXtXLo_sSZK62HSzEohPhc2GASzOVf/s1600/jenny+foram.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPRb0L26Mv_OgFqOVNW2Ad_05q3hGttTHcg9E0XcIuLEQSDpAUYK_mh0Ra81s6wTv9lEAGiiIE0bQ0rbXKSMOsrBmh_llIQbGN2LchLb0fOPte-QrXtXLo_sSZK62HSzEohPhc2GASzOVf/s1600/jenny+foram.png" height="265" width="320" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">Aside from
basic stable isotopes, Foraminifera also contain record radioactive isotopes.
One of these isotopes called radiocarbon (<sup>14</sup>C), is particularly
important to paleoceanographic studies. When Nitrogen 14 (<sup>14</sup>N) in
the upper atmosphere is bombarded by incoming solar radiation, it gains a
proton and becomes <sup>14</sup>C. This radiocarbon diffuses into the oceans
and is taken up in small amounts into the shells of the Forams. By measuring
how much of this radiocarbon is left in an ancient shell we can know its age
and the age of the sediment which surrounds it. This helps us tie down the ages
of important ocean events like landslides and ice-sheet break-up.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">Several
additional proxies exist including Uranium decay series elements. These are used
to detect the source of water masses by using their chemical fingerprint to
trace the source of their terrestrial suspension material. Even the numbers of
Forams can help us. Certain species thrive in cold water while others prefer
the warm waters of the sub-tropics. Using the % of these different species in a
sediment sample, we can compare this past assemblage with modern ones and infer
sea surface temperature changes that help us understand de-glacial events</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">To sum up,
these guys may only be the remains of tiny dead critters, but they provide us
with a immensely powerful tool in our quest to understand the oceans and their
role in the changing climate.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">Josh Allin </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGrA5t6g67pzZdo3T-gPDSWVi5D-lEMvQz438ZCzTCayJXwP9gpJKRGkgo9hjLDYhu3hXFmPXJ0UzXoKT5xW1DwTLlHISQX3CX5F3SBoxIR05eiHtQzI2YjcNdP88nJ3nebFTr89ToEqIP/s1600/IMG_1163.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGrA5t6g67pzZdo3T-gPDSWVi5D-lEMvQz438ZCzTCayJXwP9gpJKRGkgo9hjLDYhu3hXFmPXJ0UzXoKT5xW1DwTLlHISQX3CX5F3SBoxIR05eiHtQzI2YjcNdP88nJ3nebFTr89ToEqIP/s1600/IMG_1163.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></span></span></div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10243338071659226030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9185557250216150789.post-7498316873604852882014-07-06T05:12:00.001-07:002014-07-06T17:55:14.001-07:00A-Level Science and Geography Post<style>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">As part of some outreach in June, the cruise team took part
in a visit day from a Somerset sixth form college, Richard Huish, who came to
the National Oceanography Centre for a series of talks about our on-going
research. As part of their visit day, they had a lecture from Dr. James Hunt on
the history of landslides from the Canaries, and a visit to the core store
(BOSCORF) to see several cores and get an overview of how we interpret
landslide deposits. This post is aimed specifically at students during their
A-Levels, and hopes to explain the science we are working on within the context
of the A-Level syllabus. If you are taking your A-Levels at the moment, please
take part in our Q and A on the “Chat to the Team” post; we would love to hear from
you!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Part of the A-Level geography syllabus covers tsunamis as a
hazard in addition to climatic hazards that affect the UK. Though most case
studies focus on the recent earthquake induced events in Indonesia and Japan,
though it is worth remembering, that over the Holocene (the most recent
geological time period spanning 12000 years ago to present), several landslides
have occurred on European continental margins that had the potential to
generate tsunamis that would affect the UK. The Arctic Landslide Tsunami
Project is playing a key role in working out how much of a hazard submarine
landslides pose, and when or if they are likely to occur. </span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie7U2VlEV4HiN_RRCkfFRmMEf9AfxQOEpNWaL5jIKZnJ4kAo-NJR2RoihEpxxe2UQ6De1azLib5VA6jW2tpujGtZezMREGFeLA1paKa8xRfUEWPLXHtOgVn1R9dLS3KmT-bCMeNRqaF-xd/s1600/IMG_1152.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie7U2VlEV4HiN_RRCkfFRmMEf9AfxQOEpNWaL5jIKZnJ4kAo-NJR2RoihEpxxe2UQ6De1azLib5VA6jW2tpujGtZezMREGFeLA1paKa8xRfUEWPLXHtOgVn1R9dLS3KmT-bCMeNRqaF-xd/s1600/IMG_1152.JPG" height="139" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Shot of dawn from the Pelagia while winching back the CTD (Conductivity, Temperature Depth: measures the characteristics of the water column)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">One of the biggest research questions of the Arctic
Landslide Tsunami Project, is to assess the link between when these landslides
occur, and the climate at the time. This is largely driven by one of the
biggest coincidences in timing between two events that occurred approximately
8200 years ago: the Storegga Landslide, and the 8.2 ka BP cooling event. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The 8.2 event was the last of the major climatic shifts to
occur, though there have been several others (the Younger Dryas event is a case
study within the Climate module, during which time half of the deglacial
warming occurred in year (almost 10-12°), at 8.2 ka, a 5.4-11.7° C drop in
temperature over Northern Europe occurred in less than 10 years). The 8.2 event
is interesting to climatologists as it occurred during a period of relative
warmth and stability. During glacial periods, there are numerous records of rapid
and large climate shifts known as Dansgaard-Oeschger cycles, which follow a
pattern of slow cooling and rapid warming, but few rapid climate shifts are
known from the warmer interglacial periods. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Why this matters, is that we are currently in a warm period,
not too different to the conditions just before the 8.2 event, and we need to
understand not only what triggered the event, but also, the other hazards that
were potentially generated by it. The widely accepted theory for the cause of
the 8.2 is that an ice dam that had been holding back a large volume of very
cold fresh water, generated by the melting of Laurentide Ice sheet (covering
North America during the last glacial) suddenly broke, and released this water
into the North Atlantic. The North Atlantic is one of the most important
components of the global climate system, as the formation of deep water in the
Nordic Seas and to the south of Greenland helps drive the northward flow of
warm water held within the Gulf Stream that keeps the UK nice and warm. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The second event, the Storegga Landslide, is the largest
known and dated submarine landslide in the North Atlantic, and has been placed
at 8.15 ka BP. Though this is a hard date to refine, it falls exactly within
the coldest period of time recorded in the Greenland Ice records (8.16 ka BP).
The landslide generated a tsunami that was 10 m high when it reached Scotland
and the Shetland Islands (comparable in height to the two recent tsunamis), and
tsunami deposits have been found along the Norwegian coast and as far afield as
Greenland. The landslide itself moved enough sediment to cover all of Scotland
in a 100 m thick layer, and an event of this size today would cause significant
damage to UK industry and infrastructure, and represent a significant risk to
the large oil and gas operations in the North Sea (The headwall of the Storegga
Slide is very close to one of the largest complexes: the Ormen Lange field,
which was subject to a comprehensive assessment of stability and landslide
frequency in 2005 before operations began).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Landslide events are recorded as turbidites, distinctly
different layers of silt or fine sand in an otherwise muddy (hemipelagite)
background, by looking at the nature of the material in the turbidites, its
size, chemical composition, how well sorted it is and the structures it shows,
we can tell where the landslide came from, how old it is and whether or not it
happened in one big slide (likely to generate a tsunami) or in several smaller
slides from the same region (less tsunamigenic potential, but still likely to
cause a hazard). </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The key question for my PhD, is looking at the timings of these
two events, in order to determine if there is a relationship between them. Did
the cooling cause the landslide, or did the landslide contribute to the
cooling? Are landslides caused by rapid changes in the oceans? If so, are we
more likely to see one happen with contemporary global warming?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">These questions can only be answered by heading to the
deepest parts of the Nordic Seas, the Lofoten basin, and to the parts of the
ocean floor that sit directly beneath the deep water currents. This current is
generated by the sinking of water in the Nordic Seas, where it splits and part
heads north along the Voring Plateau margin towards the Barents sea, and part
heads south over the Iceland Scotland Ridge, a shallow sill of 800 m water
depth where we are hoping to collect a core that records the strength of this
current, and any landslide events that occurred over the Holocene. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">If you have a question, A-Level student or not, please feel
free to join in the live chat next week, and keep an eye on our other social
media streams:</span></span></div>
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</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Twitter: #ArcticSlides</span></span></div>
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</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Pinterest: <a href="http://www.pinterest.com/millie0692/arctic-landslide-tsunami-project-pe391-cruise/">http://www.pinterest.com/millie0692/arctic-landslide-tsunami-project-pe391-cruise/</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Millie</span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10243338071659226030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9185557250216150789.post-49829705752777667162014-07-06T05:02:00.000-07:002014-07-06T05:02:03.641-07:00The Afen Slide<style>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">As scientists have explored the seafloor they have often
found evidence of submarine landslides on the continental margins. In many
cases the seafloor topography is quite complex, the consequence of multiple
sliding events making interpretation of what has happened difficult. On the
slope northwest of Shetland there is a small landslide on its own which we hope
that by studying it in detail we can contribute to studies of larger, more
complex slides.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">The Afen Slide is found between 850 and </span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">1100 m water depths, where </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">the slope is only 1-2° but the failed sediments
have spilled out upon the floor of the Faroe – Shetland Channel below 1000m. It
covers</span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"> an
area of 40 km<sup>2</sup></span><span style="line-height: 115%;">,
which</span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"> is
about half the size of the city of Edinburgh. The slide cuts about 20m into the
soft sediments of the West Shetland slope and displaced a volume of ~ 0.2 km<sup>3</sup></span><span style="line-height: 115%;">. </span> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">It is important for us to determine when this slide occurred
and what its trigger was. If it had occurred towards the end of the last Ice age
when ice-sheets were melting, causing an unloading of the earth’s crust with
earthquakes greater than are experienced now; then the risk of a similar event
today would be very low. However if it can be shown that it is a recent sliding
event then another slide might be expected in the current environmental
conditions. We hope by sample the sediments that slid we can understand how
strong they were and type of event could have caused the slope to fail. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">David Long</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">BGS </span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10243338071659226030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9185557250216150789.post-35215262179781742412014-07-05T16:59:00.003-07:002014-07-06T17:48:26.338-07:00Musings from a boat<style>
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Day 2.7</div>
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Notes: Spent the last 12 hours asleep. Now acclimatised to
the graveyard shift. Watching the sun set and come up is epic but its called
the graveyard ship for a reason. Dinner – salmon fillet, mash potato, green
beens and magnum ice cream. Hair – poor. Tan – limited to face. Wildlife seen –
two whales, dolphin pod, sea birds and Sheltlands. Rowing machine 1 Millie
Watts 0 #cruiseproblems.</div>
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Thoughts from 60<sup>o</sup>N. </div>
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Whether we are following quite in the footsteps of the likes
of Sir Humprey Gilbert, Robert Peary and James Clark Ross, the landslide
tsunami project cruise onboard the R. V. Pelagia nevertheless seems to combine
many British traditions. We are following both our tradition of Polar
exploration whilst using the most important of British ideals, our ability to
muddle through. We have also commandeered a foreign vessel, a very British
practice since the 15<sup>th</sup> and 16<sup>th</sup> Centuries.</div>
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Progress has been relatively slow. So far we have spent our
time speeding at 10 knots towards the Afen slide. There has a lot of heaving,
pitching and rolling; the boat not the scientist trying to sleep who have
forgotten their sea sickness medication. The transit past Scotland has been
marked by drizzle and rain. We have also found that the motion of the boat adds
an extra dimension to our attempts at darts and table football. Using a dial up
connection is far more efficient for procrastination than broadband as you have
to wait ten minutes for each page to load. Salt which has crystallised on the
deck is a distinct problem for GoPro suction cups.</div>
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What can we expect in the future. Larger waves. Longer and
longer hours of daylight. Small disagreements turning into full blown
arguments. Holland vs Germany in the WC final? More erratic blog posts. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">Ed Pope</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10243338071659226030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9185557250216150789.post-59905097775445385122014-07-04T15:19:00.000-07:002014-07-06T17:49:20.482-07:00Mud, Silt and Sand<style>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">So, when I said to a couple of people that I was heading
off on a research cruise to the Norwegian Sea, I got responses of 'Oh how
lovely, the fjords are supposed to be beautiful'. I am sure that the fjords are exceedingly
picturesque, but the likelihood of seeing them is a prospect that might only
happen from a helicopter, and hey, let's not go there! We, the team of ten scientists from the
National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, Swansea University, BGS Nottingham
and BGS Edinburgh are going to do something even more exciting... We are going
to come face to face with mud from the sea floor that is thousands of years
old, and which flowed down the continental slope (the rise between the deep
abyssal plain and the shallow shelves, the ancient relict of palaeo ice
margins) as mighty bulldozers in the deep – large submarine debris flows and
turbidites. But why is this exciting?, I
hear you ask. Well, let me tell you why.</span></span></div>
<div class="DefaultStyle">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="DefaultStyle">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Mud, silt and sand (aka. sediment) are deposited in
layers on the sea-floor. They form from
admixtures of organic and inorganic matter (soft and hard parts of living
organisms), and sediments that either settle through the water column that
could have been derived from rivers, or remobilised by deep ocean currents. These layers of mud build up over time and
often contain fossilised remains of past environments. Protists (animal-like, single celled
organisms) called foraminifera have a hard calcitic (the same substance that
limestone is made from) test (shell: see below) and can be found today pretty
much in every ocean basin. These live
either at the surface or and the bottom of the ocean. Their tests take on the geochemistry of the
ambient sea water as they grow and different species, which are distinguished
by their different shapes are fussy about what temperature of water they live
in. Information on the ocean environment
can also be obtained from the physical characteristics of the sediments
themselves, which may give clues to the ice-sheets that abutted the ocean
basins. Therefore if we core through
this layer-cake of sediment, we can obtain a record of environmental change in
the ocean through time (see next blog post for more details). </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4c-JxvvIof-3F549Hs3UzjvyeTKrK9qPadPbKWkh5WoB_7SKSTXyJq4rB35hwKjj0AGBkeaWERw5a2OHHdIxVB84OIE4sI1iVmkCZJh4g3qlIyUmncBxdrrl_JaQoqlMyifIkTV_534Yq/s1600/jenny+foram.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4c-JxvvIof-3F549Hs3UzjvyeTKrK9qPadPbKWkh5WoB_7SKSTXyJq4rB35hwKjj0AGBkeaWERw5a2OHHdIxVB84OIE4sI1iVmkCZJh4g3qlIyUmncBxdrrl_JaQoqlMyifIkTV_534Yq/s1600/jenny+foram.png" height="265" width="320" /></a></span></span></div>
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<div class="DefaultStyle" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Scanning Electron Micrograph of a Planktonic
Foraminifera (Photo J. Stanford)</b></span></span></div>
<div class="DefaultStyle">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="DefaultStyle">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Occasionally, these layers of sediment can become very
thick due to high rates of sediment being delivered to that particular area.
One such site was just west of Norway, not now, but around 18 – 14 thousand
years ago. During this time, the
ice-sheet that covered Norway during the peak of the last ice-age was melting
rapidly as the air temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere started to
warm. Ice contains large amounts of
sediment, which have been worn away from the bedrock that the glacier once
flowed over. Today in the Arctic, ice
melt tends to happen during the relatively short summer season, and in the
past, mixtures of meltwater and sediment would have been injected into the
Norwegian Sea as highly sediment laden plumes.
The sediment may have entered at the surface, or may have been injected
as periodic, highly dense flows. These
high density flows which form from a steady pulse of sediment laden waters are
called hyper- (super) pyncal (density) flows.
Sediment from the last deglaciation (18-14 ka BP or so) accumulated in
piles, which today is seen as a <25 m thick sediment drape over much of the
Vøring Plateau. These sediments became
unstable over time due to one, or a combination of three key factors (1) due to gravity (just like when you are
digging a hole in the garden and eventually the sides become so steep the mud
collapses back in), (2) the shear weight of the sediments causing loading of
the thin rigid crust that covers the Earth, triggering earthquakes and/or (3)
organic matter, trapped within these sediments started to decompose over time
within these thick deposits, releasing gas that escaped through the sediment
pile. Eventually, a crack would have
propagated from deep within the sediment pile, all the way to the sea-floor,
spawning what is known as a submarine 'gravity flow'. Depending on whether the sediment flowed
downslope as one block, or whether it disintegrated into a much more fluid
flow, defines whether these flows as a debris flow or turbidity flow, respectively
(see <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krVkYvJI-PI"><span class="InternetLink"><span lang="UZ-CYR">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krVkYvJI-PI</span></span></a><span lang="UZ-CYR"> </span>for a
visual demonstration of what a turbidity flow looks like and future blog post).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">As these sediments fail and rush down the submarine
continental slope, they displace the sea-water around them, giving rise to the
possibility of powerful and destructive tsunamis (a recent example of this can
be seen in Lituya Bay). One such failure
on the Norwegian margin, is known as the Storegga Slide, which mobilised around
900 km<span style="position: relative; top: -12pt;">3 </span>of sediment and occurred around 8
thousand years ago. It is thought that there are tell-tale traces of this large
tsunami that resulted from this failure as far afield as the Shetland
Islands. However, the exact timing and
nature of this event is still unsure, despite decades of research. Other slides
include Andøya and Traenadjupet (~4 thousand years ago), and Nyk (~16 thousand
years ago), precise ages are also still unsure for these.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">There is a need to know what caused these large failures
in order to mitigate against future catastrophic events, since large
accumulations of these sediments still exist on the Norwegian margin today, as
a relict legacy of the past cold climate that persisted between throughout the
last ice age. What makes Storegga even
more interesting is that fact that its failure roughly coincided with an
extreme cold snap in Northern Hemisphere temperatures around 8.2 thousand years
ago and therefore, we need to untangle whether abrupt climatic change has a
role in destabilising the sediments.
Given that global temperatures have on average risen by 0.72 degrees
Celsius since 1951 (IPCC, 2013), and that this change is not uniformly
distributed, with enhanced warming in the polar regions (a process known as
polar amplification), increased urgency surrounds this need to discover the
mechanism behind these potentially catastrophic events. A series of other, much smaller, but still
large failure scars can be seen on the Norwegian sea floor and previously
recovered cores of sediment have dated these events as having occurred at
intervals during the current warm period, the Holocene that followed the last
ice age. So, we are heading to these
sites to try to discover (a) how and why these large failures occurred, (b)
when these failures occurred and (c) what were their impacts. That is why we are excited about going to the
Norwegian Sea for some very hard graft, but some really rewarding returns! </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Jenny. </span></span><br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10243338071659226030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9185557250216150789.post-91340932411902831912014-07-03T12:48:00.001-07:002014-07-03T12:48:24.570-07:00Heading North!
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<br />
Day one of the cruise has been busy, starting with an induction to the RV
Pelagia and safety briefings, then loading up of the final pieces of kit,
unpacking for labs and storing the PPE, we had lunch then finally set off for
the Afen Slide, which is our first coring objective for this cruise, and we are
hoping to take several cores at this site to constrain the age of the slide, and the nature of the glide plane that failed. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZu2BoIizLnbGvoBGx11hdlBjYuO120SX5aipkNFgu1B_6x5uGknLNCIELoWVflwcwA3EdnvOr6M1V7tIKl8Sjd9VLir3pnUgBGliYkx7ixjlyAMSbVpb3nv3Gzl4bJTe1FK97BkLgOIO8/s1600/IMG_1973.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZu2BoIizLnbGvoBGx11hdlBjYuO120SX5aipkNFgu1B_6x5uGknLNCIELoWVflwcwA3EdnvOr6M1V7tIKl8Sjd9VLir3pnUgBGliYkx7ixjlyAMSbVpb3nv3Gzl4bJTe1FK97BkLgOIO8/s1600/IMG_1973.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
We are keeping an eye on the weather, especially the low pressure system circling
Iceland at the moment, as we are currently making our way through the North
Sea, past the oil rigs and out towards the Shetlands. The Pelagia is cruising at a steady 9 knots heading north, you can follow us on <a href="http://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details/ships/244925000/vessel:PELAGIA" target="_blank">Marine Traffic</a> which has live updates of the ships position. The cruise team have been settling into life on board, we have internet access and fantastic facilities on board:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiHs1SN4eT_OJ0zOfF5e192IAU9q_s9oKQjECnAFM-70-0Zfx9dr1GYsvk43dQw8E_A1T8gFW41q4T93noHaeCa2SASdLhujh1EP8kVqlNhx7w5Rn4t8tzscYGC8YARWSuN2fA6ythZeks/s1600/IMG_1980.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiHs1SN4eT_OJ0zOfF5e192IAU9q_s9oKQjECnAFM-70-0Zfx9dr1GYsvk43dQw8E_A1T8gFW41q4T93noHaeCa2SASdLhujh1EP8kVqlNhx7w5Rn4t8tzscYGC8YARWSuN2fA6ythZeks/s1600/IMG_1980.JPG" height="81" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
We have a number of social media streams running throughout the trip including a <a href="http://www.pinterest.com/millie0692/arctic-landslide-tsunami-project-pe391-cruise/" target="_blank">photo stream through Pinterest</a>, and <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=ArcticSlides&src=typd" target="_blank">#ArcticSlides</a> on twitter as several of the team will be tweeting updates as the cruise progresses.<br />
<br />
Coming soon on the blog, more details on the science and the Arctic Landslide Tsunami Project, and some details on each of the slides we will be visiting over the coming four weeks.<br />
<br />
Millie. <br />
<br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10243338071659226030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9185557250216150789.post-59918965935568471322014-07-03T04:17:00.001-07:002014-07-03T04:17:21.113-07:00Pre-Cruise Planning Post<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The cruise campaign plans are nearly complete, with meetings tomorrow to finalise coring locations to meet each of the campaign objectives. The map below shows the cores already in BOSCORF (British Ocean Sediment Core Research Facility) in red, key coring locations in green, and potential locations in yellow, though the campaign plan is subject to change with the weather and conditions at each location. These locations have been chosen to target the distal turbidite deposits from the large landslides on the Norwegian margin, many of which still have uncertain dates. The hope is that by heading to the high points within the deepest parts of the basin, we should find a thin turbidite deposit bounded by enough hemi-pelagite ("normal" marine mud) to date these turbidites accurately. One of the challenges this poses, is that deposition in this part of the basin can be as low as 5cm per thousand years, so in addition to looking for material to provide us with radiocarbon dates, we are also hoping to identify several tephra horizons within these cores. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One of our other key objectives is to obtain several cores that will provide us with a high resolution climatic archive. The Nordic Seas are a key site for deep-water formation, the sinking of cold saline water, which drives the thermohaline circulation system, and as such, high resolution palaeoclimate records from these areas will allow us to refine our understanding of how these very large landslides fit with climate over the Holocene. The largest slide, the Storegga Slide, occurred during the last significant cold period, the 8.2 ka BP event (thousands of years before present), and it is unknown how, or even if, these two events are related to each other. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDlgZyOoY05cx2WznqNu-vwhPSIExuuTA2zH_9XvKU79RG9sB7F5lAcfLlFLkVF328ZxUPFM9DKLy4f5qpjFUKD_amn7PVa04jyjcH6POOSIL7qUsEiMKkHHoOIKJ0pU5Zj0knBYj7y8KN/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-06-25+at+14.01.26.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDlgZyOoY05cx2WznqNu-vwhPSIExuuTA2zH_9XvKU79RG9sB7F5lAcfLlFLkVF328ZxUPFM9DKLy4f5qpjFUKD_amn7PVa04jyjcH6POOSIL7qUsEiMKkHHoOIKJ0pU5Zj0knBYj7y8KN/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-06-25+at+14.01.26.png" height="286" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The cruise team depart for Texel on the 2nd July, where we will meet the <a href="http://www.nioz.nl/vessels" target="_blank">RV Pelagia</a> and the remaining week will be spent gathering equipment, refining the coring plan and ensuring we have all the required background information we need. This includes swath bathymetry data from previous cruises to the region, courtesy of Julian Dowdeswell and Haflidi Haflidason, and <a href="http://noc.ac.uk/research-at-sea/nmfss/nmep/tobi" target="_blank">TOBI</a> data for the Traenadjupet Slide Scar from Julian. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you are interested in how these sediment cores are gathered, please see this </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">short video detailing piston coring: </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/RcgFcxHVbJg?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10243338071659226030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9185557250216150789.post-82020201342693533602014-07-02T03:31:00.000-07:002014-07-06T17:50:17.228-07:00Chat to the Team!We are hoping to take some questions whilst we are at sea, so if you would like to ask us anything about the cruise, what we are doing whilst we are sea, life at sea or the research that will take place when we get back, send us a question using the CoverItLive app below. This will be dependent on the weather and the internet connection, but to send us a question, submit it at any time, you do not need to create an account, and we will answer it when the internet allows! Your question won't appear until we publish it, so please be patient, but we are looking forward to hearing from you!<br />
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Live Blog Arctic Landslide Tsunami Project</div>
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