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Expedition to the Coral Sea
Day 3 - Our first samples

Day 3 - Our first samples

Today we dredged up our first rock samples! You can see we were pretty excited.

The anticipation is building in the operations room, looking at the external cameras and bathymetry of the seafloor.
The anticipation is building in the operations room, looking at the external cameras and bathymetry of the seafloor.
Waiting on the deck watching the dredge being winched in from the seafloor
Waiting on the deck watching the dredge being winched in from the seafloor

White rocks

Unfortunately, we did not find the “black rocks” we were looking for, mostly carbonates. We want primarily basalt because then we can find the age of seamounts from their geochemistry. The carbonates we brought up just tell us about the critters that settled on the seafloor after volcanism stopped.

First rocks exhumed from the seafloor sitting on the deck.
First rocks exhumed from the seafloor sitting on the deck.

Rock classification

Nonetheless, we bag and tag ’em.

We document all of the rocks that come onboard, classifying their texture and composition.
We document all of the rocks that come onboard, classifying their texture and composition.

Check out the video I put together afterwards:

docs