The ODP Technical and Logistics personnel aboard JOIDES Resolution for Leg 164 were:
Tim Bronk Marine Lab Specialist (Chemistry)
Brad Cook Marine Lab Specialist (Photographer)
Randy Current Marine Electronics Specialist
Sandy Dillard Marine Lab Specialist (Storekeeper)
John Eastlund Marine Computer Specialist
Margaret Hastedt Assistant Lab Officer (Paleomagnetism)
Rick Johnson Marine Computer Specialist
Brad Julson Lab Officer
Kuro Kuroki Assistant Lab Officer
Mont Lawyer Marine Lab Specialist (Underway Geophysics)
Jaque Ledbetter Marine Lab Specialist (X-ray)
Greg Lovelace Marine Lab Specialist (Physical Properties)
Erinn McCarty Marine Lab Specialist (Curator)
Chris Nugent Marine Lab Specialist (Downhole Tools, Thin
Section Lab)
Anne Pimmel Marine Lab Specialist (Chemistry)
Jo Ribbens Marine Lab Specialist (Yeoman)
Nancy Smith Marine Lab Specialist (Curatorial Assistant)
Bill Stevens Marine Electronics Specialist
The Leg 164 crew arrived on the ship the morning of 28 October 1995. Many of the Leg 163 crew were released early, and the crew crossed over with the remaining technicians from the off-going crew. Most of the oncoming shipments arrived before our crew arrived and were loaded onto the ship. During the port call, the corroded deck plates on the fantail were replaced. The magnetometer winch and level winds were cut away and reinstalled later.
We received two new copiers to replace our aging copiers. The service representative did not appear until the final day to install them. A new cellular phone was brought to the ship, and an antenna was mounted on the lab roof.
There were a couple of rendezvous with the Hatteras. There was a personal and a medical evacuation of two of our technicians onto the Hatteras which later took the people to shore. These rendezvous also brought out camera crews, reporters, and supplies. Samples for bacteria studies were transferred to the Hatteras and later inoculated with biological tracers. At one point, we were informed that naval exercises would be taking place near us. We only saw a helicopter and planes that occasionally flew around the ship.
One of the co-chiefs set up a system to measure the quantity of gas in a section of core. The "gas chambers" are degassing tubes made of polyvinyl chloride pipe into which sections of core can be placed. Evolving gas was piped to a graduated cylinder filled with water. The quantity of gas could then be measured and sampled for analysis on the gas chromatographs. Gas amounts were also measured with digital flowmeters. Temperature changes were recorded in a Labview program on a Macintosh computer. Volumes of gas that were unusually large were piped back through tubing into large gas bags in trash cans outside the lab for sampling.
H2S gas was expected before the cruise, and necessary safety precautions were put into effect. All scientists and technicians were given a class on the dangers of H2S and how to use breathing apparatus in case of an emergency. Both permanent and portable H2S monitors were installed in the labstack, and on the catwalk and drill floor. The sensors were calibrated, and there were shipboard H2S drills.
Because of the volume of gas expected, "gassy core" safety procedures were put into effect. Kevlar material was made into aprons, gloves, and blankets to protect individuals from the possibility of core liners shattering as they were handled. This equipment, as well as hard hats with face masks, was designed to protect the people working around the cores. Fortunately, we did not encounter any cores that were so gassy the liners exploded. The tendency of the liners to explode may depend on the condition, age, and material composition of the liner.
Since the objective of the leg was to look for clathrates, which are unstable under surface conditions, the cores were carefully examined as they were retrieved. Holes were drilled in the liners, and the cores were probed with digital thermometers to search for cold spots that might show clathrates. The core sections were searched on the catwalk or brought into the splitting room. Clathrates were put in pressure vessels or in liquid nitrogen. One scientist brought a series of freezers to store his pressure containers. The catwalk was always packed with people, and it was difficult to curate the cores as people searched for hydrates.
New plastic sampling trays were installed in the sampling area. New core boxes designed to reduce the use of staples and tape were tried for the first time. New bookshelves were also installed in the lab.
Color scans were made on all of the cores while they were described. The FAXITRON was set up on the lower tween deck. The FAXITRON was used to X-ray structure in sediment slabs. The photographs were developed in the photo lab.
Routine underway activities commenced soon after we left Halifax. Bathymetric data was collected during the transits between sites. Seismic data was collected as we approached two of the sites. The seismic data was collected at 6 kt using a single 80-in.3 water gun. We installed a new version of WinFrog at the beginning of the leg, but it did not work. A new version was brought out during a rendezvous, and it allowed us to fix most of the bugs and to plot the magnetometer signal. Two new Differential Global Positioning Systems (DGPS) were installed and the antennas temporarily installed. The system worked well and allowed us to more accurately plot our positions. All three GPSs are plotted in the WinFrog program. The lab was heavily used for vertical seismic profiles (VSPs). There were two dual-ship "walkaway" VSPs, using the Hatteras, and the standard single-ship VSP. A Reftek data acquisition system was set up in the lab to collect the data and additional personal computers (PCs), Suns, and Hewlett Packard (HP) computers were connected to the network. The Woods Hole three-axis geophone tool was used downhole; a 400-in.3 water gun and a 300 in.3 air gun were used as sources for our ship. The Hatteras used generator-injector (GI) guns. An air-powered tugger was used to deploy a hydrophone on a faired kevlar cable to be used on the initial shot. The results of the initial tool placements were e-mailed from the Hatteras to shore and then received on the Resolution to confirm the system was working well.
Corroded deck plates on the fantail were replaced during the port call. The magnetometer winches and level winds were later welded back in place. One level wind control box was found flooded, presumably during the heavy seas encountered during Leg 163. The control box was cleaned and put back into service. The large water gun and the air gun were rebuilt a number of times to support the VSP experiments.
The new multisensor track (MST) LabView software, installed during the port call, was used for the first time. The new program had a few bugs, thus the program will need to be modified. The MST is now run by two Macintosh computers instead of four PCs. The program was well received by the scientists. The physical properties' technician was forced to leave the ship with a medical emergency but the scientists were able to keep the lab running.
This lab was heavily used by organic and inorganic scientists. High-resolution interstitial-water sampling resulted in a new record for the most pore-water samples squeezed on a leg. The scientists searched for indications of clathrates in the core by observing salinity and chlorinity changes in the pore water. Sulfate reduction was also monitored in the upper sections of the cores. The Dionex ion chromatograph ran almost continuously the entire leg. The alkalinity program was modified to store all the titration data on the hard disc. Samples of pore water from the water sampler temperature probe (WSTP) tool and the pressure core sampler (PCS) were also analyzed.
The compositions and concentrations of hydrocarbons and other gases in the sediments were monitored around the clock. Gas was sampled by vacutainers and headspace vials from cores on the catwalk. Gas samples were also taken and analyzed from the co-chief's degassing tubes and the PCS. Gas hydrate samples were dissociated and the resulting gas was analyzed on the gas chromatographs. The Rock-Eval was used for the characterization of organic matter. The extraction and analysis of high-molecular-weight hydrocarbons and long-chain alkenones were performed on a capillary gas chromatograph.
This was a very quiet leg in the lab. Recovery was low, and magnetite reduction made intensities even lower, making conditions very difficult for taking measurements. Even split core intensities were essentially in the noise range of the cryomagnetometer. Fortunately, the scientists knew about this, so there was no disappointment about the near-total lack of magnetostratigraphy. Rock magnetic studies were the order of the day and were very successful. The cryomagnetometer performed more than 1220 runs at various demagnetization levels.
No samples were run on the X-ray fluorescence (XRF) machine this leg. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) machine was heavily used for the analysis of clay samples. A new Macintosh (³free ware²) application to analyze XRD data was acquired from a member of the Leg 164 shipboard scientific party. It was installed in the core lab and in the X-ray lab and used exclusively throughout the leg to plot and interpret the XRD diffractograms. The new Phillips APD software upgrade (Version 3.6) arrived on the rendezvous and was installed. JCPDSWIN and JCPDS-DOS software and a new (1994) CD-ROM drive were also received and installed. The new laser printer was installed and connected to the network. The XRD powdered standards were consolidated, rebottled, relabeled, and alphabetized. Inventory and reorganization of the XRD rock standards are in progress. About 30 analysis programs were written for the new MacDiff software.
The computer inventory was updated to reflect changes in hardware for the DEC service contract. A number of scientists brought their own computers. We attached them to the network so they could analyze geophysical data. ccMail had a few glitches but it was brought back on line each time and the database was recovered with very little loss of files.
The computer machine room preparations were started for the Alpha servers. These two computers will be the servers for the JANUS database. These computers will be installed during port call, and TRACOR personnel will sail next leg to install the software for the first phase of the JANUS program.
Sampling objectives for this leg were to determine the changes in ephemeral chemical and physical properties associated with gas hydrate and to investigate the distribution and fabric of gas hydrate within the sediments. This involved rapid sampling of gas hydrate-bearing sediments, closely spaced interstitial-water sampling, sampling for methane flux analyses, sampling for shore-based physical properties experiments, and frequent sampling for gas analyses.
The curators were especially busy this leg trying to keep up with the scientists sampling clathrates. Compounding this was the H2S gas found at a couple of sites. There was a large frozen shipment at the end of the leg. All the clathrate samples not analyzed on the ship were sent back in pressure vessels or dewars. The pressure vessels were shipped in large coolers covered in dry ice.
This lab was heavily used to try to understand the in situ characteristics of natural gas hydrate. Temperature measurements in advanced hydraulic piston corer (APC) cores were taken using the Adara temperature tool. The WSTP tool was used for temperature measurements and pore-water sampling in extended core barrel (XCB) type cores.
A new third-party temperature tool, Davis-Villanger Temperature Probe (DVTP) prototype, was used for the first time. It was deployed four times in consolidated material, was very easy to use, and is an example of the new trend in heat-flow measurement tools. The tool collects two channels of temperature data, two channels of accelerometer data (to measure the movement of the tool, especially after it is inserted into the sediment) and two channels of data to measure the drift in the electronics as the tool cools. Pressure measurements will be added later.
A new pore-water sampling tool, the Fisseler Water Sampler (FWS) prototype, also debuted this leg. This tool is designed to slowly extract the pore water from the sediment using a syringe type suction.
The PCS was used heavily this leg. The PCS was run to recover both hydrate/sediment and in situ gasses. The PCS manifold was set up to measure the quantity of gas evolved and collected the gas for later analysis. The PCS was quite successful this leg and brought up core samples at the same pressure they were taken.
There was only one paleontologist this leg, so this lab was primarily used for experiments by other scientists. In one area, the geophysicists set up a computer station to analyze their seismic data. In the prep lab, one chemist precipitated sulfide in the hood. Another chemist set up a clathrate collection and measurement station.
Before the leg there were requests to take videos of the cores containing clathrates to monitor the change in physical properties as the clathrates dissociated. Because of the excitement of finding the clathrates, the only video taken was from an individual scientist's personal video recorder. Photos were taken of the clathrates before they were put into pressure containers.
During the beginning of the leg, the densitometer failed. Fortunately, a new model was brought to the ship during a rendezvous. Consequently, the color exposures were different over the course of the leg.
The Marine Emergency Technical Squad (METS) trained with the ship's emergency crew. Drills were held once a week and covered everything from fires to stopping an oil leak. A cellular phone was purchased to reduce communication costs. Unfortunately, for most of the leg, we were outside the reach of the cellular service area. The ship will be closer to the continental United States in the future, and the cellular phone will be used then. There is continuing research into less expensive types of communication. We are currently looking into a stationary satellite over the United States that has much less expensive rates than currently available commercial satellites. A representative from this company will visit the ship during the port call and will look at installing a gymballed antenna.
This lab was heavily used to try to understand the in situ characteristics of natural gas hydrate. Temperature measurements in advanced hydraulic piston corer (APC) cores were taken using the Adara temperature tool. The WSTP tool was used for temperature measurements and pore-water sampling in extended core barrel (XCB) type cores.
A new third-party temperature tool, Davis-Villanger Temperature Probe (DVTP) prototype, was used for the first time. It was deployed four times in consolidated material, was very easy to use, and is an example of the new trend in heat-flow measurement tools. The tool collects two channels of temperature data, two channels of accelerometer data (to measure the movement of the tool, especially after it is inserted into the sediment) and two channels of data to measure the drift in the electronics as the tool cools. Pressure measurements will be added later.
A new pore-water sampling tool, the Fisseler Water Sampler (FWS) prototype, also debuted this leg. This tool is designed to slowly extract the pore water from the sediment using a syringe type suction.
The PCS was used heavily this leg. The PCS was run to recover both hydrate/sediment and in situ gasses. The PCS manifold was set up to measure the quantity of gas evolved and collected the gas for later analysis. The PCS was quite successful this leg and brought up core samples at the same pressure they were taken.
There was only one paleontologist this leg, so this lab was primarily used for experiments by other scientists. In one area, the geophysicists set up a computer station to analyze their seismic data. In the prep lab, one chemist precipitated sulfide in the hood. Another chemist set up a clathrate collection and measurement station.
Before the leg there were requests to take videos of the cores containing clathrates to monitor the change in physical properties as the clathrates dissociated. Because of the excitement of finding the clathrates, the only video taken was from an individual scientist's personal video recorder. Photos were taken of the clathrates before they were put into pressure containers.
During the beginning of the leg, the densitometer failed. Fortunately, a new model was brought to the ship during a rendezvous. Consequently, the color exposures were different over the course of the leg.
The Marine Emergency Technical Squad (METS) trained with the ship's emergency crew. Drills were held once a week and covered everything from fires to stopping an oil leak. A cellular phone was purchased to reduce communication costs. Unfortunately, for most of the leg, we were outside the reach of the cellular service area. The ship will be closer to the continental United States in the future, and the cellular phone will be used then. There is continuing research into less expensive types of communication. We are currently looking into a stationary satellite over the United States that has much less expensive rates than currently available commercial satellites. A representative from this company will visit the ship during the port call and will look at installing a gymballed antenna.