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.
There is a cruise website (aimed mainly at schools and the general public) at http://www.noc.soton.ac.uk/gg/classroom@sea/JC007/ which will be updated during the cruise.
Further information can be obtained from the co-chief scientists:
Roger Searle (r.c.searle@durham.ac.uk);
Chris MacLeod (macleod@cf.ac.uk);
Bram Murton (bjm@soc.soton.ac.uk).
