The International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) has been reuniting scientists around the world for decades to collect samples and data from the Earth interior all around the globe. The R/V Joides Resolution, the main research infrastructure used for this major scientific synergy, reaches soon the end of her life spam (c. 45 years of sailing). Its last expedition will be in the Arctic Fram Strait. More precisely, one of the key geological systems that will be investigated is the Vestnesa Ridge, the case study of the SEAMSTRESS project.
Expedition 403 will be the last one o the program https://iodp.tamu.edu/scienceops/expeditions/eastern_fram_strait_paleo_archive.html
The main goal of this expedition is to reconstruct the paleo archive of sediment sources, currents, major climatic transformation associated with glacial cycles, and even the archive of the interactions between plate tectonics and sedimentary evolution during the opening of the Fram Strait.
One of the specific objectives of the expedition (objective 6) is to study glacial and tectonic stresses and their effect on near-surface deformation and Earth systems dynamics in this Arctic, very important region of the Planet (i.e., the gateway of the Atlantic Ocean into the Arctic). The knowledge advanced during the SEAMSTRESS project and the project’s rational underpinned the development of this objective. We hope for a successful campaign that will reunite experts around the world to answer many exciting questions, but one that is crucial for SEAMSTRESS: does tectonic drift and glacial rebound generate stresses that affect the Quaternary strata, leading to sediment cracking, sliding and releases of large amounts of carbon into the ocean?
Let the effort to advance our understanding of complex Earth system interactions in the Arctic continue!
Figure source http://iodp.tamu.edu/participants/applytosail.html – Expedition map.
Text by Andreia Plaza-Faverola