Dear colleagues
We are now accepting ANZIC applications from scientists in our member institutions for scientific participation in an ECORD expedition in the Rift of Corinth in October-November 2017. We are guaranteed one scientific place. The links in the attachment provide more scientific background. Opportunities exist for researchers (including graduate students) in specialties in the following fields: paleontology, sedimentology, organic geochemistry, inorganic geochemistry, structural geology, paleomagnetics, physical properties, geophysics and petrophysics/downhole logging.
The applicants will either be part of 1) the limited offshore party (late 2017) and the onshore sampling party in Bremen in February 2018 or 2) the larger onshore sampling party. if you apply, please specify which option you would prefer. For the offshore phase of the expedition, they are particularly looking for the following fields: paleontology, sedimentology, organic geochemistry, inorganic geochemistry, physical properties, and petrophysics/downhole logging.
Background and objectives
This European-funded alternative platform expedition will drill three sites within the active Corinth Rift, Greece, where deformation rates are high, the syn-rift succession is preserved and accessible, and a dense, seismic database provides a high resolution fault network and seismic stratigraphy for the recent rift history but with limited chronology. In the Gulf of Corinth, the expedition can achieve an unprecedented precision of timing and spatial complexity of rift-fault system development and rift-controlled drainage system evolution in the first 1-2 Myr of rift history.
The expedition aims to resolve at a high temporal and spatial resolution how faults evolve, how strain is (re-)distributed, and how the landscape responds within the first few Myrs in a non-volcanic continental rift, as modulated by Quaternary changes in sea level and climate. High horizontal spatial resolution (~1-3 km) is provided by a dense grid of seismic profiles offshore that have been recently fully integrated, complemented by extensive outcrops and fault analysis onshore. High temporal resolution (~20-50ka) will be provided by seismic stratigraphy tied to core and log data from three carefully located boreholes to sample the recent syn-rift sequence.
Two primary themes will be addressed by the drilling integrated with the seismic database and onshore data. First, fault and rift evolutionary history (including fault growth, strain localization and rift propagation) and deformation rates: the spatial scales and relative timing can already be determined within the seismic data offshore. Dating of drill core will provide the absolute timing offshore, the temporal correlation to the onshore and the ability to quantify strain rates from individual faults to the whole rift scale. Second, the response of drainage evolution and sediment supply to rift and fault evolution: core data will define lithologies, depositional systems and paleoenvironment, including catchment paleo-climate, basin paleobathymetry, and relative sea level. Integrated with seismic data, onshore stratigraphy and catchment data, we will investigate the relative roles and feedbacks between tectonics, climate and eustasy in sediment flux and basin evolution. A multidisciplinary approach to core sampling integrated with log and seismic data will generate a Quaternary chronology for the syn-rift stratigraphy down to orbital timescale resolutions and resolve the paleoenvironmental history of the basin in order to address the objectives.
The expedition aims to drill, core, and log up to 750m-deep boreholes at three sites in the central and eastern Gulf of Corinth. The procurement process to contract platform and drilling services is currently being undertaken by ESO, and it is envisaged that the setup will involve a geotechnical vessel equipped with a coring rig, and outfitted with ESO’s laboratory containers.
Information webinar
To learn more about the scientific objectives of this expedition, life at sea, and how to apply to sail, please join us for a web-based seminar on Tuesday 14th February 2015 at 1pm GMT. To participate in the webinar, you will need access to the internet with a computer equipped with a speaker and microphone (optional). To register, please visit:
https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/IODP381
