Antarctic Marine Geology Research Facility, 1977-1978
Antarctic Marine Geology Research Facility, 1977-1978 DENNIS S. CASSIDY and SHERWOOD W. WISE,JR. Department of Geology Florida State University Tallahassee, Florida 32306 Curatorial activities at the Antarctic Marine Geology Research Facility for the year 1 June 1977 to 31 May 1978 were dominated by the distribution of marine and other antarctic sedimentary samples, the receipt of new materials, and preparation and dissemination of core descriptions for ARA Is/as Orcadas piston and trigger cores. Sample distribution was as follows: Eltanin: 2,506 samples were distributed from 150 different piston cores representing 34 of the 47 coring cruises; 29 samples were removed from 33 trigger cores, and I sample from 1 Phieger core. Also distributed were 29 samples from rock dredge, Peterson grab, and Campbell grab recovery stations aboard 13 cruises. Islas Orcadas: 10,603 samples were taken from 123 individual piston cores representing four cruises (Islas Orcadas 7, 11, 12, and 15), and 34 samples were taken from 31 trigger cores of 2 cruises (Islas Orcadas 0775 and 1176). Dry Valley Drilling Project (DVDP): 641 samples were distributed from frozen drill core of 6 holes (DVDP 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 15). Ross Ice Shelf Project (RISP): 13 samples were removed from 2 gravity cores taken through the J-9 hole. International Weddell Sea Oceanographic Expedition (IWSOE): 276 samples were removed from 6 Phleger and 16 piston cores retrieved aboard the 1968, 1969, and 1970 IWSOE cruises of USCGC Glacier. Miscellaneous: 22 samples were distributed from 2 Phleger cores taken aboard USCGC Northwind in the Kara Sea (Arctic Ocean). The 14,154 samples distributed were received by 43 investigators representing 18 institutions of 4 nations. This total does not include a great number of minute core sediment samples used in the preparation of smear-slides for reconnaisance work, nor does it include sampling of rock specimens stored at the facility in conjunction with the endolithic microbiological investigations of Imre Friedmann (Florida State University Department of Biology) in the dry valleys region of Antarctica. New materials acquired include approximately 335 meters of piston and trigger cores (shipped by airfreight from Buenos Aires under refrigeration) retrieved aboard Islas Orcadas cruise 1578, approximately 71 meters of piston and trigger cores collected aboard USCGC Glacier in the Ross Sea (Kellogg, 1978), and 10 gravity cores (5.92 meters) from the RISPJ-9 drill site (Ronan et al., 1978). Principal investigators Peter Webb (Northern Illinois University) and John Clough (University of Nebraska-Lincoln) have coordinated efforts to ensure equitable distribution of the limited RISP material. Also received were approximately 150 kilograms of dry valleys rocks collected by Friedmann (1978). Thee latter specimens were collected and shipped under sterile conditions, and are stored frozen at -23°C.
October 1978
The staff of the curatorial project compiled a second volume of core descriptions (Kaharoeddin, 1978) for sediments recovered aboard cruise 1176 of Is/as Orcadas. Similar in format to the initial volume (Cassidy et al., 1977), these descriptions are designed to meet the demands of investigators whose work requires a knowledgeable evaluation of core lithologies prior to sampling. Descriptive procedures are in progress for Is/as Orcadas cruises 1277 and 1578 cores. Thus far, more than 10,000 meters of Eltanin/Islas Orcadas marine cores have been described at the facility (Cassidy and Shepley, 1977). Research personnel of the facility continued to be extensively involved in support of the Is/as Orcadas core retrieval program. For the first time, a U.S. geologist (Steve Jones, Florida State University) participated on an Argentinesponsored research cruise (cruise 1477). Aboard this cruise, 9 cores were recovered from the Malvinas (Falkland) Plateau before engine problems forced an early termination of coring operations. Cores taken during the Argentinesponsored cruises are deposited at the Naval Hydrographic Office, Buenos Aires, Republic of Argentina. To facilitate joint efforts of description of these cores, a manually operated core-splitting device was constructed at the FSU Facility and shipped to Argentina for use by the Hydrographic Office (Wise et al., 1978). John G. Hattner, serving on the core crew, was the Florida State University representative aboard Is/as Orcadas cruise 1578; cruise 1678 of that vessel was staffed by Sherwood W. Wise, Jr., Paul F. Ciesielski, Steve Jones, and Jan Smolko. Research objectives by members of the facility have been concentrated largely on the geologic history of the Malvinas (Falkland) Plateau (Ciesielski, 1978, in press; Ciesielski et al., 1978; Ciesielski and Wise, 1977; Glasby and Cassidy, 1978; Wise, 1978; Wise et al., in press). This area has served as a departure point for other investigations of broader scope, particularly the high-latitude calcareous nannofossil studies of Wind (1978), Wind and Wise (1978), and MacKenzie (1977). Curatorial work is supported by National Science Foundation contract C-1059. Research is supported by National Science Foundation grant DPP 74-20109.
References
Cassidy, D. S., and S. Shepley. 1977. Core recovery: USNS Eltanin and ARA Islas Orcadas. AntarcticJournal of the US., 12(4): 75-76. Cassidy, D. S., P. F. Ciesielski, F. A. Kaharoeddin, S. W. Wise, Jr., and I. Zemmels. 1977. ARA Islas Orcadas cruise 0775 sediment descriptions. Sedimentology Research Laboratory, Department of Geology, Florida State University, Contribution 45. Ciesielski, P. F. 1978. The Maurice Ewing Bank of the Malvinas (Falkland) Plateau: Depositional and Erosional History and Its Paleoenvironmental Applications. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Department of Geology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida. Ciesielski, P. F. In press. The Maurice Ewing Bank of the Falkland (Malvinas) Plateau: Late Miocene-Recent depositional and erosional history and its paleoenviron mental implications (Proceedings of Third Symposium on Antarctic Geology and Geophysics, Madison, Wisconsin, August 1977). Ciesiclski, P. F., F. A. Kaharoeddin, and D. S. Cassidy. 1978. Basal sediment ages of Islas Orcadas cruise 11 piston cores. AntarcticJournal of the US., 13(4): 94-97.
221
Ciesielski, P. F., and S. W. Wise, Jr. 1977. Geologic history of the Maurice Ewing Bank of the Falkland (Malvinas) Plateau (Southwest Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean) based on piston and drill cores. Marine Geology, 25: 175-207. Friedmann, E. I. 1978. Melting snow in the dry valleys is a source of water for endolithic microorganisms. Antarctic Journal of the U.S., 13(4): 162-163. Glasby, G. P., and D. S. Cassidy. 1978. Distribution of manganese nodules with depth in sediments of the South Georgia Basin, Falkland (Malvinas) Plateau and adjacent areas. Antarctic Journal of the US., 13(4) 110-111. Kaharoeddin, F. A. 1978. ARA Islas Orcadas cruise 1176 sediment descriptions. Sedimentology Research Laboratory, Department of Geology, Florida State University, Contribution 46. Kellogg, T. B. 1978. Piston coring aboard USCGC Glacier in the Ross Sea. Antarctic journal of the U.S., 13(4): 126-127. MacKenzie, D. T. 1977. A comparative analysis of lower Tertiary calcareous nannofossils from Southern Oceans. Unpublished master's thesis, Department of Geology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida. Ronan, Thomas E.,Jr., Peter N. Webb, Jere H. Lipps, and Ted E. Delaca. 1978. Miocene glaciomarine sediments from siteJ-9, Ross
Core splitter for an Argentine-U.S. coring program SHERWOOD W. WISE,JR. and HAROLDJ. SIEGEL Antarctic Marine Geology Research Facility Department of Geology Florida State University Tallahassee, Florida 32306 FELIX H. Mouzo, MIGUEL A. MARMORATO, and ALFREDO YUNG Departamento Oceanografia Servicio de Hidrografia Naval-Armada Argentina Buenos Aires, Republica Argentina
A core splitter incorporating several novel design features has been constructed for use in a joint coring program conducted aboard the ARA Islas Orcadas by scientists from the Argentine Naval Hydrographic Office and the FSU Artarctic Marine Geology Research Facility. The core splitter is housed at the Hydrographic Office in Buenos Aires which will serve as the repository for all cores raised during the project. Cores are taken aboard Islas Orcadas by a Ewing piston corer modified to accept a 2.5-inch diameter plastic liner. This liner must be cut along two sides before the core can be opened for examination and sampling. In many core laboratories, the plastic liners are cut by a circular saw (example, see Cassidy and DeVore, 1973, figure 2). This method contaminates the sediment with plastic shavings and may disturb the sediment.
222
Ice Shelf, Antarctica. Antarctic,Journal of the U.S., XIII(4): 121-123. Wind, F. H. 1978. Late Campanian and Maestrichtian calcareous nannoplankton biogeography and high latitude biostratigraphy. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Department of Geology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida. Wind, F. H., and S. W. Wise, Jr. 1978. Mesozoic holococcoliths. Geology, 6(3): 140-142. Wise, S. W., Jr. 1978. Paleontologic and paleoenviron mental synthesis for the southwest Atlantic ocean basin based on Jurassic to Recent faunas and floras from the Falkland Plateau: A summary. Antarctic Journal of the US., 13(4): 104-107. Wise, S. W., P. F. Ciesielski, D. T. MacKenzie, F. H. Wind, K. E. Busen, A. M. Gombos, B. U. Haq, G. P. Lohman, it C. Tjalsma, W. K. Harris, R. W. Hedlund, D. N. Beju, D. L. Jones, G. Plafker, and W. V. Sliter. In press. Paleontologic and paleoenvironmental synthesis of the southwest Atlantic ocean basin based on Jurassic to Recent faunas and floras from the Falkland Plateau (Proceedings of Third Symposium on Antarctic Geology and Geophysics, Madison, Wisconsin, August 1977). Wise, S. W., Jr., H. J . Siegel, and A. Yung. 1978. Core splitter for a joint Argentine-U.S. coring program. Antarctic Journal of the US., 13(4): 222-223.
The core splitter described here (figure 1) is silent and hand operated. It is based on a model used aboard the RJv Glomar Challenger which uses sharp blades to cut the plastic liner. The knife blades are mounted in pairs on either side of a carriage bolted to a nut that travels the length of the splitter along a worm gear turned by a hand crank. The worm gear provides a mechanical advantage of 20 to 30 depending on the crank handle radius used, sufficient to exert the 300 pounds of pressure necessary to cut the plastic. The blades on each side face opposite directions, thus allowing the device to cut in either direction depending on which way the crank is turned. The hand crank is mounted to a flywheel which allows an even pressure to be applied. Cores may be any length up to 5 1/2 feet. They are held in place by adjustable chucks at either end and by a rotating wheel mounted under spring pressure at the top of the carriage. These devices keep the core from rotating or buckling
Figure 1. Core splitter being tested at the FSU antarctic facility by Wise (left), Siegel (center), and Jones (right).
ANTARCTIC JOURNAL
October 1978
The staff of the curatorial project compiled a second volume of core descriptions (Kaharoeddin, 1978) for sediments recovered aboard cruise 1176 of Is/as Orcadas. Similar in format to the initial volume (Cassidy et al., 1977), these descriptions are designed to meet the demands of investigators whose work requires a knowledgeable evaluation of core lithologies prior to sampling. Descriptive procedures are in progress for Is/as Orcadas cruises 1277 and 1578 cores. Thus far, more than 10,000 meters of Eltanin/Islas Orcadas marine cores have been described at the facility (Cassidy and Shepley, 1977). Research personnel of the facility continued to be extensively involved in support of the Is/as Orcadas core retrieval program. For the first time, a U.S. geologist (Steve Jones, Florida State University) participated on an Argentinesponsored research cruise (cruise 1477). Aboard this cruise, 9 cores were recovered from the Malvinas (Falkland) Plateau before engine problems forced an early termination of coring operations. Cores taken during the Argentinesponsored cruises are deposited at the Naval Hydrographic Office, Buenos Aires, Republic of Argentina. To facilitate joint efforts of description of these cores, a manually operated core-splitting device was constructed at the FSU Facility and shipped to Argentina for use by the Hydrographic Office (Wise et al., 1978). John G. Hattner, serving on the core crew, was the Florida State University representative aboard Is/as Orcadas cruise 1578; cruise 1678 of that vessel was staffed by Sherwood W. Wise, Jr., Paul F. Ciesielski, Steve Jones, and Jan Smolko. Research objectives by members of the facility have been concentrated largely on the geologic history of the Malvinas (Falkland) Plateau (Ciesielski, 1978, in press; Ciesielski et al., 1978; Ciesielski and Wise, 1977; Glasby and Cassidy, 1978; Wise, 1978; Wise et al., in press). This area has served as a departure point for other investigations of broader scope, particularly the high-latitude calcareous nannofossil studies of Wind (1978), Wind and Wise (1978), and MacKenzie (1977). Curatorial work is supported by National Science Foundation contract C-1059. Research is supported by National Science Foundation grant DPP 74-20109.
References
Cassidy, D. S., and S. Shepley. 1977. Core recovery: USNS Eltanin and ARA Islas Orcadas. AntarcticJournal of the US., 12(4): 75-76. Cassidy, D. S., P. F. Ciesielski, F. A. Kaharoeddin, S. W. Wise, Jr., and I. Zemmels. 1977. ARA Islas Orcadas cruise 0775 sediment descriptions. Sedimentology Research Laboratory, Department of Geology, Florida State University, Contribution 45. Ciesielski, P. F. 1978. The Maurice Ewing Bank of the Malvinas (Falkland) Plateau: Depositional and Erosional History and Its Paleoenvironmental Applications. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Department of Geology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida. Ciesielski, P. F. In press. The Maurice Ewing Bank of the Falkland (Malvinas) Plateau: Late Miocene-Recent depositional and erosional history and its paleoenviron mental implications (Proceedings of Third Symposium on Antarctic Geology and Geophysics, Madison, Wisconsin, August 1977). Ciesiclski, P. F., F. A. Kaharoeddin, and D. S. Cassidy. 1978. Basal sediment ages of Islas Orcadas cruise 11 piston cores. AntarcticJournal of the US., 13(4): 94-97.
221
Ciesielski, P. F., and S. W. Wise, Jr. 1977. Geologic history of the Maurice Ewing Bank of the Falkland (Malvinas) Plateau (Southwest Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean) based on piston and drill cores. Marine Geology, 25: 175-207. Friedmann, E. I. 1978. Melting snow in the dry valleys is a source of water for endolithic microorganisms. Antarctic Journal of the U.S., 13(4): 162-163. Glasby, G. P., and D. S. Cassidy. 1978. Distribution of manganese nodules with depth in sediments of the South Georgia Basin, Falkland (Malvinas) Plateau and adjacent areas. Antarctic Journal of the US., 13(4) 110-111. Kaharoeddin, F. A. 1978. ARA Islas Orcadas cruise 1176 sediment descriptions. Sedimentology Research Laboratory, Department of Geology, Florida State University, Contribution 46. Kellogg, T. B. 1978. Piston coring aboard USCGC Glacier in the Ross Sea. Antarctic journal of the U.S., 13(4): 126-127. MacKenzie, D. T. 1977. A comparative analysis of lower Tertiary calcareous nannofossils from Southern Oceans. Unpublished master's thesis, Department of Geology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida. Ronan, Thomas E.,Jr., Peter N. Webb, Jere H. Lipps, and Ted E. Delaca. 1978. Miocene glaciomarine sediments from siteJ-9, Ross
Core splitter for an Argentine-U.S. coring program SHERWOOD W. WISE,JR. and HAROLDJ. SIEGEL Antarctic Marine Geology Research Facility Department of Geology Florida State University Tallahassee, Florida 32306 FELIX H. Mouzo, MIGUEL A. MARMORATO, and ALFREDO YUNG Departamento Oceanografia Servicio de Hidrografia Naval-Armada Argentina Buenos Aires, Republica Argentina
A core splitter incorporating several novel design features has been constructed for use in a joint coring program conducted aboard the ARA Islas Orcadas by scientists from the Argentine Naval Hydrographic Office and the FSU Artarctic Marine Geology Research Facility. The core splitter is housed at the Hydrographic Office in Buenos Aires which will serve as the repository for all cores raised during the project. Cores are taken aboard Islas Orcadas by a Ewing piston corer modified to accept a 2.5-inch diameter plastic liner. This liner must be cut along two sides before the core can be opened for examination and sampling. In many core laboratories, the plastic liners are cut by a circular saw (example, see Cassidy and DeVore, 1973, figure 2). This method contaminates the sediment with plastic shavings and may disturb the sediment.
222
Ice Shelf, Antarctica. Antarctic,Journal of the U.S., XIII(4): 121-123. Wind, F. H. 1978. Late Campanian and Maestrichtian calcareous nannoplankton biogeography and high latitude biostratigraphy. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Department of Geology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida. Wind, F. H., and S. W. Wise, Jr. 1978. Mesozoic holococcoliths. Geology, 6(3): 140-142. Wise, S. W., Jr. 1978. Paleontologic and paleoenviron mental synthesis for the southwest Atlantic ocean basin based on Jurassic to Recent faunas and floras from the Falkland Plateau: A summary. Antarctic Journal of the US., 13(4): 104-107. Wise, S. W., P. F. Ciesielski, D. T. MacKenzie, F. H. Wind, K. E. Busen, A. M. Gombos, B. U. Haq, G. P. Lohman, it C. Tjalsma, W. K. Harris, R. W. Hedlund, D. N. Beju, D. L. Jones, G. Plafker, and W. V. Sliter. In press. Paleontologic and paleoenvironmental synthesis of the southwest Atlantic ocean basin based on Jurassic to Recent faunas and floras from the Falkland Plateau (Proceedings of Third Symposium on Antarctic Geology and Geophysics, Madison, Wisconsin, August 1977). Wise, S. W., Jr., H. J . Siegel, and A. Yung. 1978. Core splitter for a joint Argentine-U.S. coring program. Antarctic Journal of the US., 13(4): 222-223.
The core splitter described here (figure 1) is silent and hand operated. It is based on a model used aboard the RJv Glomar Challenger which uses sharp blades to cut the plastic liner. The knife blades are mounted in pairs on either side of a carriage bolted to a nut that travels the length of the splitter along a worm gear turned by a hand crank. The worm gear provides a mechanical advantage of 20 to 30 depending on the crank handle radius used, sufficient to exert the 300 pounds of pressure necessary to cut the plastic. The blades on each side face opposite directions, thus allowing the device to cut in either direction depending on which way the crank is turned. The hand crank is mounted to a flywheel which allows an even pressure to be applied. Cores may be any length up to 5 1/2 feet. They are held in place by adjustable chucks at either end and by a rotating wheel mounted under spring pressure at the top of the carriage. These devices keep the core from rotating or buckling
Figure 1. Core splitter being tested at the FSU antarctic facility by Wise (left), Siegel (center), and Jones (right).
ANTARCTIC JOURNAL
