Expedition 372 investigates slow slip events (SSEs) on subduction faults, as well as actively deforming gas hydrate-bearing landslides. The Hikurangi margin east of New Zealand is a unique study area that allows scientists to address both research topics.
Deep into the Cretaceous hothouse period
The School of Rock 2017, Expanding the Geoscience Pipeline by Connecting Educators with Early Career IODP Scientists, will sail from Subic Bay, Philippines to Townsville, Australia with 17 educators and early career scientists on board, along with a team of expert instructors. Follow along with their adventures on the blog and social media.
Expedition 371 aims is to improve the understanding of the role of plate tectonics in global climate evolution over the past 60 million years. To achieve this, the expedition primarily focuses on obtaining a precise date and metics which will allow the testing of alternate geodynamic models.
Along the South China Sea Rifted Margin (SCSRM) a thinning crust of Earth’s outermost shell, the lithosphere, creates a mystery to unravel. Expeditions 367 and 368 of the International Ocean Discovery Program worked together over the course of 4 months at sea to uncover the processes of continental break up. By retrieving core samples from the bottom of the SCSRM the team of 66 international scientists looked back in time, the geologic record, at the opening of SCSRM.
Which tectonic model is the one in action in the South China Sea? One of these two already known or even a third one? This was the main goal of Expedition 367 (and 368 also) in the South China Sea (SCS). By drilling along the SCS rifted margin scientists wanted to understand the mechanisms of lithosphere extension during continental breakup in a magma-poor rifted margin.
The scientists on this expedition hoped to learn (1) how sediments, fluids and chemicals move and cycle through the earth’s crust; (2) the role of tectonics and mud volcanoes in transporting fluids and sediments in subduction zones; and (3) how these physical and chemical movements impact living organisms.
