The Integrated Ocean Drilling Program has begun accepting applications for scientific participants on Expedition 349 to the South China Sea aboard the JOIDES Resolution in January-March 2014.
This expedition will focus on the timing and mechanisms of opening of the South China Sea, and its implications for East Asian and western Pacific tectonic and paleoenvironmental evolution.
The drilling plan aims to reach the oceanic basement in order to recover both oceanic basalts and overlying sediments. The drilling sites are designed strategically to determine timing of both onset and termination of seafloor spreading in different sub-basins. The drilling will also allow geochemical samplings of basement rocks at different ages and around key tectonic events.
The scientific objectives of the expedition will focus on the following themes:
(1) Cenozoic mechanisms, timings, sequences, and affiliations of seafloor spreading;
(2) Oceanic crustal accretion and mantle evolution;
(3) Paleoceanographic and sedimentary responses to tectonic evolution of the South China Sea;
(4) Late Mesozoic and Early Cenozoic pre-rifting tectonic transitions and driving forces of continental margin break-up and seafloor spreading.
The deadline to apply is April 1, 2013. The proposal may be found at:
http://iodp.tamu.edu/scienceops/expeditions/south_china_sea.html
Co-chief Scientist: Chun-Feng Li (Tongji University, China)
Co-chief Scientist: Jian Lin (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, USA)
Staff Scientist: Denise Kulhanek (IODP, Texas A&M University
This expedition is scheduled for January 28-March 30, 2014.
