Daily Science Report 52 -- Tuesday, 1 February 2011
| Reports |
Location
Cores U1376A-13R to -19R (101.2 to 148.1 mbsf) were retrieved with 63% recovery. With Core U1376-13R we reached the base of the unusually thick (33 m) highly olivine-augite-phyric lava flow and continued drilling into at mixed succession of hyaloclastic breccia and clasts, a smaller olivine-phyric lava flow (2 m thick) and aphyric, sub-vertical sheet intrusions (dikes). Since this material is relatively soft, compared to the massive flow above, the penetration rate increased to 2.9 m/hr. Vast amounts of surprisingly fresh volcanic glass can be found in the hyaloclastite. The excellent preservation of this >65 Ma old glass is particularly astonishing since this seamount hosts by far the largest number of veins (indicating extensive fluid circulation) of all Louisville Seamount drilled during this expedition. Sampling for personal, post-cruise research was conducted today for cores from Holes U1375A, U1375B, and for the upper 50 core sections from current Hole U1376A.
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