Ridge Crest News

The MoMARDREAM-Naut Leg 1 cruise (8 - 19 July 2007) was the first part of the multidisciplinary project MOMARDREAM lead jointly by Jérôme Dyment (IPGP-Paris), Françoise Gaill (CNRS-Université Paris 6) and Yves Fouquet (IFREMER). The first 9 Nautile dives were dedicated to the biology and geology of the Rainbow site at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR). Françoise Gaill was the chief scientist and Jérome Dyment the project leader.

R/V Hakuho-maru at the Central Indian Ridge

The KH-06-4 Research Cruise by R/V Hakuho-maru was conducted from 7 December 2006 to 5 January 2007, in the Central Indian Ridge. The research proposal was prepared by K. Tamaki, T. Ura, T. Gamo and others. We principally focused on advancing the understanding of the Rodriguez Segment (Segments 15 and 16) of CIR (the Central Indian Ridge) where the previous geological and geophysical studies were ongoing as UK and French programs. We conducted four operations; geophysical mapping by SeaBeam, magnetics, and gravity, AUV (Autonomous Underwater Vehicle) dives, CTD hydrocasts, and rock samplings. The principal results of the cruise are summarized as follows.

EPR 9˚50'N Ridge2000 ISS Summary

In March-April 2007, S. White (U. South Carolina) and A. Soule (WHOI) conducted a near-bottom sidescan sonar survey using the WHOI-NDSF 120 kHz deep-towed DSL120a system over the site of the 2005-2006 eruptions near 9˚50'N along the East Pacific Rise crest.

RRS James Cook on the Mid Atlantic Ridge

Roger Searle, Chris Macleod and Bramley Murton are leading the first cruise of the new UK vessel RRS James Cook, funded by the UKIODP programme, to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge near 15ºN. This is an area of extensive peridotite outcrop, and is perhaps the best known example at present of a so-called low-magmatic ridge. It was drilled by ODP Leg 209 in 2003, partly following recommendations from the InterRidge Meso-Scale Workshop report on 4‑D Architecture of the Oceanic Lithosphere (1993) and the subsequent workshop on Oceanic Lithosphere and Scientific Drilling into the 21st Century (1996), which was co-sponsored by InterRidge.

InterRidge China Update: Chinese Research Cruises Discovered the First Active Hydrothermal Vent Field at the Ultraslow Spreading Southwest Indian Ridge

Two recent Chinese research cruises on board Chinese R/V DayangYihao have successfully discovered the first active hydrothermal vent field at the ultraslow spreading Southwest Indian Ridge and collected hydrothermal sulfide deposit samples from the vent sites. The newly discovered hydrothermal vent field is in the central eastern portion of the Southwest Indian Ridge and is located on the western end of a magmatically robust spreading segment. These cruises were funded and sponsored by the China Ocean Mineral Resources R & D Association (COMRA) and were conducted on the 105-meter-long R/V DayangYihao.