Skip navigation

IODP Expedition 330 Louisville Seamount Trail

Daily Science Report 32 -- Wednesday, 12 January 2011


Location

Site U1374 on 28.6°S Guyot 28° 35' 44.9988" S, 173° 22' 49.8" W
Region: 
Louisville Seamount Trail
Elevation: 
0 m above sea level

Cores U1373A-34R to -40R (182.3-230.3 mbsf) were recovered with 71% recovery and continued to deliver variably altered volcaniclastic breccia with occasionally intercalated thin volcanic units (possible lava flows?). In the meantime, the biostratigraphic investigation of the thin limestone layer recovered at the top of Core U1374A-3R continued. By now we have compelling evidence both from nannofossil and foraminifer identifications that the limestone is of Late Cretaceous age. This confirms that the volcanic succession recovered below was formed during the main stage of the seamount’s formation above the estimated position of the Louisville hotspot at this time. This information is of fundamental importance for the significance of the paleomagnetic studies aimed to constrain the paleolatitude of the of Louisville hotspot.