How It Works - UK (2020-02)

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DID YOU KNOW? The deepest hole drilled by the JOIDES Resolution reached 1,928 metres into the ocean floor

WhatwasEXP383lookingfor,andwheredidyougo?

Thegoalofourexpeditionwastoreconstructtheclimateoftheoceans

aroundA ntarcticaoverthepast~6millionyears.Duringthistime

interval,sedimentsaccumulatedonanunderwatermountainrange

calledtheEastPacificRise.Bydrillingthesesedimentsandstudy ing

theirchemicalandphysicalpropertieswecanlearnmoreaboutthe

climateinthepast.

ThispartoftheSouthernOceanisoneofthestormiestregionson

Earthandisnotoriousforitsroughseas.TheJRcanonlydrillincalm

conditions,soourexpeditionleftinw inter,whichisthecalmest

season.Evenso,westillhadsomeweatherissues,includinga coupleof

daysw ithten-metrewaves.

WhatwasyourjobonboardtheJR?

I wasoneofthepalaeontologists,whosejobit istofigureouttheageof

thesediments.Theoceanscontainmanykindsofmicroscopicplankton

thatgetpreser vedinthesediment.Ifyoufinda fossilplanktonspecies

thatlivedbet ween 20 and 15 millionyearsago,youknowthatyour

sedimentshavetobethisoldaswell.Themorespeciesyoufind,the

moreaccuratetheageestimate,sowehadfourpalaeontologistson

ever yshiftlookingforasmanydifferentkindsoffossilplanktonas

possible.Thiswasanimportanttaskbecauseit tellstheexpedition

leadershowmuchfurthertheyhavetodrill.

Whatwasthemostmemorabl

partofyourexpedition?

Fort womonths,ever yoneworke

towardsthesamegoals,andthet

spiritonboardwasamazing!Th

mostspecialthingwasbeingabl

workw ithsedimentsthatnoone

everseenbefore.Theyhadbeen

sittingontheseafloorformillion

yearsuntilwedrilledthemup.I

alsoenjoyedthew ildlife.Wewer

v isitedbyanenormouspodof

dolphinsthatswamalongw itht

shipforhours.

POCKETS OF

ANCIENT WATER

The sediments retrieved by the JR are

mostly solid, but not always. An Indian

Ocean expedition recovered pockets of

ancient seawater. These salty bubbles reveal

what the sea was like during the last ice age.

A LOSTCONTINENT

The lost continent of Zealandia is buried

beneath the South Pacific, but it wasn’t

always underwater. Sediments retrieved by

the JR revealed that the seabed folded

around 80 million years ago, plunging this

forgotten land into the ocean.

Scientists on board

the JOIDES Resolution

see spectacular

sunsets at sea

© Alamy

© Getty Source: Wiki/XXXXXX

Dr Anieke Brombacher used fossils to work

out the age of sediments from Expedition 383

Unearthing

ancient

plankton

Dr Anieke Brombacher works within

the National Oceanography Centre at

the University of Southampton

© Anieke Brombacher