IODP Expedition 330 Louisville Seamount Trail

Location

Cores U1374A-24R and -25R (120.8 to 130.4 mbsf) were retrieved in the early morning hours with an amazing recovery of 105%. The necessity of the subsequently scheduled drill bit change provided a welcome opportunity for all lab groups to catch up with core descriptions and shipboard measurements. After the hole was successfully re-entered in the late afternoon, Core U1374-26R (130.4-135.2 mbsf) was retrieved in the late evening with 97% recovery. All three cores recovered more of the highly to moderately altered volcaniclastic breccia containing abundant basaltic clasts of variable size. Some of the clasts are surprisingly well preserved and might even contain some fresh volcanic glass, as found in clasts higher up in the breccia succession. Some of the more dense intervals in today’s cores could represent thin altered lava flows, but this interpretation cannot be confirmed until the material is split and fully described. At noon, the series of site summary meetings for previous Site U1373 concluded with presentations by the Geochemistry, Paleomagnetism and Physical Properties lab groups. By the end of the day, all sample requests from shipboard scientists for personal post-cruise studies were approved by the Sample Allocation Committee. The first sampling party is scheduled after the end of drilling operation at this site.