Glossary

The Advanced Piston Corer (APC) is crucial for high-resolution climate and paleoceanographic studies. The APC is a hydraulically actuated piston corer designed to recover relatively undisturbed continuous 9.5 m long oriented core samples from very soft to firm sediments that cannot be recovered well by rotary coring.

Alkalinity is measured by titration. An acid of known strength (the titrant) is added to a volume of a treated sample of water. The volume of acid required to bring the sample to a specific pH level reflects the alkalinity of the sample. The pH end point is indicated by a color change. Alkalinity is expressed in units of milligrams per liter (mg/l) of CaCO₃ (calcium carbonate).

Stands for Advanced Piston Corer. The APC is a hydraulically actuated piston corer designed to recover relatively undisturbed continuous 9.5 m long oriented core samples from very soft to firm sediments that cannot be recovered well by rotary coring.

An underground layer of water-bearing permeable rock or unconsolidated materials (gravel, sand, or silt) through which water can flow.

When a core is split in half, it is the side that is saved and can only be studied without altering it so it can be preserved.

Basalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually gray to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of Earth.

The rock layers that lie underneath layers of sediments

Stands for Bottom Hole Assembly.

The study of how fossils are distributed through time and space. These patterns can often be used with other data to date the rock layers.

The complete death and disappearance of a life form. This term is more inclusive than the extinction of a species.

The bridge deck area, including the helm (steering) and navigation station, is the place from which the Captain and his mates run the ship. 

Caliper is a tool used for measuring the diameter of a borehole. The measurements are displayed as a caliper log. Open hole caliper logging tools often have four or more arms.

The catwalk is the core receiving platform; it is a covered area outside the Core Lab where each core is handed over to the Lab technicians that clean, measure, and cut it into ~1.5 meter sections.

Chemistry is a physical science that deals with the composition, structure and properties of substances and the transformations they undergo.  The JR has a large chemistry lab on the Forecastle Deck.

A long-term change in weather patterns

Contourites are the sediments deposited by, or significantly affected by, bottom currents (e.g. Mediterranean Outflow Water in the Gulf of Cádiz)

A hollow cylinder used for obtaining cores that is dropped inside the drillstring

A one-way device that prevents a core from falling out from the inner core barrel once it has entered

Lab designed specifically for the description and analysis of sediment and hard rock cores

When a core is split in half, it is the side that is saved and can only be studied without altering it so it can be preserved.

When a core is split in half, it is the side that can be tested and studied by scientists.

Stands for Circulation Obviation Retrofit Kit. A CORK is a set of scientific instruments designed to monitor conditions beneath the ocean floor.

A derrick is a tower that holds the hoisting apparatus for raising and lowering the drilling apparatus on the ship. 

Small particles, debris, other material worn or broken away from a mass by water or glacial ice

Lowered instruments down into a drilling hole to collect measurements of the physical properties of rocks and sediments

The drill pipe is the pipe that surrounds the core sample and core liner. It has a drill bit at the bottom that drills through the rock to make the core.

The drill shack is the room from which drilling operations are controlled. 

The drillstring on The JR is a column, or string, of pipes that transmits drilling fluid (via the mud pumps) and rotational power to the drill bit at the bottom. 

To remove a ship from water to a dry basin, typically for repairs

Dynamic positioning (DP or DPS) is a computer controlled system that automatically keeps a ship in its position and heading (called “on station”) by using her own propellers and thrusters. 

The Extended Core Barrel (XCB) coring system is used in sedimentological, climate, and paleoceanographic studies.The XCB is used to recover 9.5 m long core samples from soft to moderately hard formations. The XCB is typically deployed when the formation becomes too stiff to piston core (i.e., upon piston coring "refusal") or when it is not hard enough to permit efficient recovery with the Rotary Core Barrel (RCB). The XCB cutting shoe extends ahead of the main bit in soft sediments but retracts into the main bit as the weight on bit increases when firm lithologies are encountered. The XCB uses the same bottom-hole assembly (BHA) as the Advanced Piston Corer (APC).

The fantail is an overhang at the extreme rear of the ship. On The JR, it is the same as the poop deck. 

A partial deck above the main deck at the bow

Gabbros are dark igneous rocks formed when liquid magma is trapped under the Earth’s surface and cools there. Large portions of the oceanic crust are made of gabbros. 

The area of the ship where food and meals are prepared and served

The field of geochemistry involves study of the chemical composition of the Earth and other planets, chemical processes that govern the composition of rocks and soils, and the cycles of matter and energy that transport Earth's chemical components in time and space, and their interaction with the hydrosphere and the atmosphere. 

Geological layers refer to layers of rocks and sediments with different textures and compositions that are found on land and beneath the ocean floor

Geology is the science and study of the history of Earth and its life especially as recorded in rocks and sediments. 

Geophysics is the branch of earth science dealing with physical processes and phenomena the occur on Earth, such as earthquakes.

Scientists who study geology, geophysics or geochemistry

Refers to warm environmental conditions, such as during the early Eocene, when the Polar Regions were free of ice and there were relatively high levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere

An atmospheric heating phenomenon caused by carbon dioxide, water vapor, methane, and other gases trapping more of Sun’s heat, resulting in higher temperatures on Earth’s surface

The very bottom deck of the ship, used for storage

The body of a ship that provides buoyancy

The study of water in the Earth's crust

The study of water in the Earth's crust.

Refers to glacial environmental conditions, such as during the early Oligocene, when the Polar Regions were covered in ice and there were relatively low levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere

A special type of waterproof dry suit (also known as a Gumby suit) that protects the wearer from hypothermia from immersion in cold water, after abandoning a sinking or capsized vessel

The piece of equipment that attaches sections of drill pipe to each other, much like a large, mechanical wrench

Isotopes are atoms of the same element that have the same atomic number (the same number of protons and electrons) but different atomic weights (different numbers of neutrons).

The multi-floor area of the ship that houses all the scientific laboratories on board the ship

Lowering instruments down into a drilling hole to collect measurements of the physical properties of rocks and sediments

A person who analyzes data from logging instruments – those lowered down into a drilling hole to collect measurements of the physical properties of rocks and sediments. 

The highest deck of the hull, usually but not always the weather deck

Marine biology is the scientific study of living organisms in the ocean or other marine or brackish bodies of water. 

Geology that deals with the physics of the ocean, including seismology, volcanology, and geomagnetism

The Mediterranean Outflow Water (MOW) corresponds to the water flow coming from the Mediterranean Sea into the Gulf of Cadiz through the Straits of Gibraltar.

A moon pool is an opening in the floor of the ship, giving access to the water below, allowing technicians or researchers to lower tools and instruments into the sea. 

Stands for Mediterranean Outflow Water.

The circulation of large-scale ocean currents that is driven by differences in the density of seawater at different locations. The density of seawater changes depending on how much surface heat and freshwater it receives.

A device consisting of an osmotic pump connected to a long section of small-bore tubing used to collect water samples

Paleoclimatology is the study of climate change taken on the scale of the entire history of Earth. It uses records from ice sheets, tree rings, sediment, and rocks to determine what climate was like in the past. 

Paleomagnetism is the study of the record of the Earth's magnetic field preserved in various magnetic minerals through time. 
 

Paleontology is the study of the history of life on Earth, as reflected in the fossil record.

The evaluation of a scientist’s work, usually in the form of a paper, by other scientists to ensure good science has been conducted

Petrophysics is the study of the physical and chemical properties that describe the occurrence and behavior of rocks, soils and fluids. 

Physical properties describe the physical characteristics of rocks and sediments such as appearance, texture, color, odor, density, solubility, porosity, magnetic, and other properties of rocks and sediments. The JR has many physical properties instruments housed in the core lab.

Physical science is an encompassing term for the branches of natural science that explore non-living systems, in contrast to the biological sciences. 

The poop deck is a partial deck above a ship’s main afterdeck (toward the back of the ship). 

Stands for Rotary Core Barrel. The RCB is a rotary coring system designed to recover core samples from firm to hard sediments and igneous basement.

The Reentry Cone and Casing (RECC) system is a permanent seafloor installation (or legacy hole) that helps scientists return to and re-enter a particular hole.

Rhyzon samplers are soil moisture probes that enable discrete sampling with minimal disturbance to the sediment surface. The method does not require filtering or removal of wet sediment from the piston core.

The Rotary Core Barrel (RCB) is a rotary coring system designed to recover core samples from firm to hard sediments and igneous basement. The RCB is crucial for oceanic crustal hard rock studies.

The amount of salt in seawater, usually measured in parts per thousand

 A mountain in the sea that is at least 100 meters high and is not found on a continental shelf.

Sedimentology is the study of sediments such as sand, mud (silt), and clay, and understanding the processes that deposit them.  Sand, silt, and clay are defined according to their grain sizes, with sand composed of coarser grains and clay composed of finer grains.

Seismic exploration is the search for geologic resources such as crude oil, natural gas, and minerals by using sound waves to produce images of the rock layers below Earth’s surface. Seismic maps are helpful in determining the best places to drill.

Seismic reflection is a method of geophysical exploration  that uses the principles of seismology to estimate the properties of the Earth's subsurface from reflected seismic waves. The method requires a controlled seismic source of energy, such as an "air gun".

The splice is a composite core section representing the best available representation of a complete stratigraphic column at a site. It is composed of core sections from adjacent holes such that coring gaps in one hole are filled with core from an adjacent hole.

Water stratification occurs when water with different salinity (halocline) and/or temperatures (thermocline) form a barrier because their properties prevent them from mixing.

A survival suit (or more specifically an immersion survival suit), is a special type of waterproof dry suit that protects the wearer from hypothermia from immersion in cold water, after abandoning a sinking or capsized vessel.

 A temperature-sensitive resistor used to measure temperature

A thruster is a small (relatively) propulsive device used by a ship to keep it in a particular position.  The JR has 12 thrusters that are controlled by the Dynamic Positioning System.

Time series analysis is the study and interpretation of data taken at equally spaced time intervals.

“Tripping” simply means raising or lowering the drill string

A sedimentary deposit formed by a turbidity current.

Turbidity currents can be set into motion when mud and sand on the continental shelf are loosened by earthquakes, collapsing slopes, and other geological disturbances. The turbid water then rushes downward like an avalanche, picking up sediment and increasing in speed as it flows.

These are smaller storage levels/partial decks within the hold deck.  The JR has an upper and a lower tween.

A VSP differs from a conventional reflection profile in that the receiver is clamped successively at different borehole depths within the Earth.

When a core is split in half, it is the side that can be tested and studied by scientists.

Stands for Extended Core Barrel. The XCB is used to recover 9.5 m long core samples from soft to moderately hard formations.