Hello everybody. I am Tats Sakamoto from JAMSTEC, Japan. I am one of the on board stratigraphic correlators who is going to be tracking any data set (mainly data corrected by fask-track multi sensor core logger, whole-round multi sensor core logger, natural gamma intensity logger, and split core core reflectance) and then I correlate data sets between drilling holes. During this cruise, I am working with Dr. Alan Mix from the US. Major tasks for this position onboard are (1) to recover continuous sediment sequence from multiple cores with co-chiefs and drillers, and (2) produce affine and splice tables for calculating a same depth scale among drilling holes.

We are still drilling on U1343 (GAT-3C) site in this moment. We have just finished up correlation for the upper 240 meter section with 3 holes (U1343-A, C, and D). We had some difficult intervals, however Alan and I wiggle matched with the fantastic data sets and compiled to get a continuous sedimentary section down to ~1.2 Ma (million years ago) in the site.

We are using software named “Correlator” that was developed originally by USIO for performing correlator tasks on board. This is a great help for the correlator. I understand that the software is working well for this current expedition but it is still under development. Well, the cruise is almost at the middle, I will try to share my experiences and ideas as a “Correlator”. It will be good talking with any other correlators, and may help for new correlators on upcoming expeditions.

Tats

[Photo Credit; William Crawford, IODP/TAMU]