|  Among the discoveries of Cascadia Margins Gas Hydrates Expedition 311 was a thick section of gas hydrate lying near the seafloor surface beneath an active vent site, known as the ‘bull’s-eye vent,’ where methane gas naturally seeps from the seafloor. This vent site is one of many similar sites IODP scientists observed along the Cascadia Margin and that they are just starting to understand in relation to the overall history of the margin. “Expedition 311 has shown that the occurrence of gas hydrate is much more complex than predicted,” said IODP co-chief scientist Timothy S. Collett of U.S. Geological Survey, Denver, Colo. “Instead of finding gas hydrate concentrated in one layer near the base of the zone where it is stable,” said Collett, “higher concentrations of gas hydrate were found within coarse-grained sand layers throughout core samples from most of the sites drilled.” More than 1,200 meters of sediment core samples were recovered during the 37-day expedition aboard the JOIDES Resolution. For more information about the expedition, including log records, photos, and ship reports, go to http://www.iodp.org/expeditions/ and click on Cascadia Margins. | |
| | Superfast Spreading Crust 3, IODP Expedition 312 returned to shore on Dec. 28, 2005, after 61 days at sea. Tens of meters of core were recovered, scanned, and analyzed on board. Preliminary results will be released in late January.
More about Exp. 312 will appear in the next issue of E-News. To see more photos taken aboard the JOIDES Resolution during Exp. 312, go to http://iodp.tamu.edu/publicinfo/. It was the JOIDES’ last expedition for IODP —see related story below.
|  Staff Scientist Neil Banerjee (center) explains sampling procedures to science party members (from left to right, front) Shusaka Yamazaki, Niigata University; Nobuo Hirano, Tohoku University; Stephanie Ingle, University of Hawaii at Manoa; Ani Tikku, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; and Doug Wilson, University of California, Santa Barbara.
Photo courtesy of IODP-TAMU.
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| IODP is calling for applications from scientists who wish to join the science party for the New Jersey Margin Expedition to be conducted next year by the ECORD Science Operator (ESO). Scientists with relevant expertise from IODP member nations are welcome to apply. Expedition 313 aims to obtain continuous cores and downhole logging measurements of siliciclastic sequences on this modern continental margin within crucial paleo-inner-shelf facies at three sites that represent the most sensitive and financially accessible locations for deciphering amplitudes and testing facies models. Coring operations will aim to: - Date major "Icehouse" (Oligocene–Recent) sequences, a period of known glacioeustatic change, and compare the age of the unconformable surfaces bracketing these sequences with the age of sea-level lowerings predicted from the d18O glacioeustatic proxy;
- Estimate the amplitudes, rates, and mechanisms of sea level change;
- Evaluate sequence stratigraphic facies models (e.g., systems tracts) that predict depositional environments, sediment compositions, and stratal geometries in response to sea level changes; and
- Provide a baseline for future IODP drilling that will address the effects and timing of sea level changes on other passive margins.
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To see full details about the expedition and application details, click here: http://www.iodp.org/New-Jersey-margin-mission-specific-expedition/. | |
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| The deep-sea drilling vessel CHIKYU has undergone successful testing operations, JAMSTEC President Yasuhiro Kato announced to local and international media representatives on board the drilling vessel late last year. During two testing periods conducted over the last three months of 2005, the following CHIKYU equipment was tested to confirm its high performance: 1) Drilling equipment and drillpipe handling;
2) Mud circulation and mixing, for the high-density mud drilling system;
3) Dynamic Positioning System (DPS);
4) Hydraulic Piston Coring System; and the
5) Blow-out Preventer handling system.
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Testing enabled JAMSTEC to acquire new information that will facilitate CHIKYU’s safe and smooth operation, Kato told the media. “Our plan is to move CHIKYU to Sukumo Bay in Kochi as a base port to conduct more tests, especially ship positioning,” he said. | |
| | After 20 years of service to the scientific ocean drilling community, the JOIDES Resolution , the U.S.-sponsored ocean drilling vessel (SODV), will undergo an extreme makeover. The new and improved vessel, which promises to increase the quality and rate of core samples brought up from the deep, will be virtually unrecognizable from the current ship and will be renamed. The SODV is expected to be ready for science expeditions by mid-2007. Currently, an 18-week engineering design phase is underway.
Scientists conducted 122 expeditions onboard the 470-foot (143-meter) JOIDES Resolution, first through the Ocean Drilling Program (ODP, 1985-2003) and since 2003, through IODP.
"The enhanced vessel will greatly increase the efficiency and scope of drillship scientific operations,” said Jamie Allan, program director for IODP at the National Science Foundation (NSF). “The new vessel will allow IODP scientists to continue expanding our knowledge of the Earth." NSF is funding the SODV refurbishment.
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| Following Expedition 310’s successful recovery of 632 meters of core from off Tahiti, the onshore science party will meet at the University of Bremen Core Repository (BCR), Germany, beginning on Feb. 13, 2006, for up to 30 days. News from the expedition is expected to be released at BCR on or about March 1. Visit http://www.iodp.org/news/ or http://www.ecord.org/exp/tahiti/310.html for more information. | |
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The European Geosciences Union General Assembly will take place April 2–7, 2006, in Vienna, Austria. The following day, April 3, the EGU Exhibition will open at the Austria Center. ECORD will host the IODP information booth onsite throughout the week, providing information about all three drilling platforms, expeditions, publications, and more. A Town Hall Meeting is also scheduled jointly with ICDP for Tuesday evening, April 4. Check the EGU program for exact time and location; visit http://www.ecord.org/ for more information.
One session of note to IODP scientists attending EGU is Session CL039 "Marine and Terrestrial Paleoclimate Records Recent Advances in IODP and ICDP." The conveners are Gerald Haug and Jochen Erbacher . This symposium will bring together scientists from IODP and the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) to discuss recent advances in paleoclimate studies from both programs. The call for abstracts appears at http://www.cosis.net.
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| The newly designed ESSAC web site has gone live. Visit the site at http://www.essac.ecord.org/index.php and experience its new organization and content. The site is especially useful in locating ESSAC representatives and SAS representatives from Europe , and for European-based scientists who want more information about participating in an IODP expedition. The site also links to current IODP expeditions. | |
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| The USIO recruited 13 teachers to a 12-day “teach-the-teachers” expedition aboard the JOIDES Resolution. The education outreach initiative was designed to provide an immersion program on the rigors of scientific ocean drilling research to teachers in the U.S., some working at museums and some in schools. The first-ever all-teacher expedition sailed from Victoria, British Columbia, to Acapulco, Mexico, and focused on practical teaching methods to bring scientific ocean drilling, including plate tectonics, seafloor spreading, core analysis, weather records, and more, into classrooms and into the sphere of young people. |  The first all-educator expedition aboard the U.S. JOIDES Resolution sailed from Victoria, British Columbia, to Acapulco, Mexico, last fall, led by USIO staff. “School of Rock” participants included 10 middle and high school teachers, two museum educators, and a textbook consultant. Photo courtesy of IODP-TAMU.
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| Program highlights included an overview of IODP from TAMU IODP Director Jeff Fox; a micropaleontology lecture from Mark Leckie, Dept. of Geosciences, University of Massachusetts, and co-chief scientist of ODP Leg 165, Caribbean Ocean History and the Cretaceous/Tertiary Boundary Event; and a session on CORK led by TAMU Staff Scientist Adam Klaus via satellite. | |
| | IODP is rolling out four workshops on scientific ocean drilling on topics including fault zone drilling, the deep biosphere, 21st Century Mohole, and continental breakup. The first workshop is scheduled for May 23-26, 2006, in Japan : Fault Zone Drilling: Developing a Global Perspective. Jointly presented with the International Continental Scientific Ocean Drilling Program (ICDP), the workshop will feature the science and technology of drilling, sampling, testing, and long-term borehole monitoring or active faults. The meeting is expected to bring together scientists and engineers of many fault zone drilling projects for open and detailed exchange of results, ideas, and experiences, and to result in greater cooperation and synergy in the interpretation of findings, experiment design, and technology development.
IODP and ICDP will support travel and expenses for approximately 60 workshop participants. Interested scientists and engineers will be selected from online applicants. Preference will be given to applicants from IODP and ICDP member countries, but places will be reserved for advanced students and early career scientists. For more information and to apply online, go to www.iodp.org/workshops. Application deadline is Feb. 21, 2006.
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| | Lights! Camera! Action! IODP-MI has undertaken a film documentary project to support education and outreach efforts program-wide. The first short DVD was developed from footage shot at New Mexico Tech and from “b-roll” (background footage) of DSDP and ODP. “Introduction to IODP,” an 8-minute short film on DVD, made its debut at AGU at the IODP booth. The video provides an overview of the IODP, introduces the CHIKYU and riser drilling technology, and provides background on the upcoming Nankai Trough Seismogenic Zone Experiment (NanTroSEIZE). Future segments will be produced primarily for distribution to journalists who write about science for science publications and general-interest media—60 of the current DVDs were scooped up by journalists who attended AGU. By mid-2007, the existing short videos produced will be edited into a feature length film used to promote the launch of NanTroSEIZE, an expedition in which both IODP drilling vessels will participate. To see the new DVD, go to http://www.iodp.org/audiovisual/. | |
| | The IODP web portal has greatly expanded in content, depth, and number of visitors since it was launched last year. If you’re unfamiliar with the site or want to introduce a colleague or student to its content, here’s a short list of popular pages where you can get started: - Search Engine upper right corner of home page: Locate an IODP scientist, publication, or national program. Search in any of several languages.
- Scientific Drilling —the new IODP/ICDP journal that reports on scientific continental and ocean drilling. Subscribe, order in quantity, query the editors. Choose Scientific Publications on the home page, then choose the journal: http://www.iodp.org/scientific-drilling to see the current issue.
- Proceedings of IODP —Browse the first edition of the official IODP expedition proceedings (Juan de Fuca, Exp. 301), published by the co-chief scientists and science party. Go to Scientific Publications, scroll down to the Proceedings: www.iodp.org/scientific-publications
- Calendar—See integrated listing of program events, conferences, and meetings important to ocean drilling scientists. Access from top nav bar: www.iodp.org/events.
- Science Advisory Structure (SAS)—pull down a menu from the top nav bar to see the full list of current panels, meeting schedules, panel members: www.iodp.org/sas.
- News/Media—Find a menu of community newsletters, news releases, noteworthy media coverage, link to audiovisual library of streaming video and audio material: www.iodp.org/news.
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|  | | IODP E-News is a bimonthly publication of Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Management International (IODP-MI). It is produced and distributed by IODP-MI for the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program under the sponsorship of the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), the Ministry of Culture, Education, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan, and other participating countries. Its content is based upon research supported under NSF Contract OCE-0432224.
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