The ODP Operations and Engineering personnel aboard JOIDES Resolution for Leg 165 were:
John Dyke - Marine Lab Specialist (Store Keeper)
Tim Fulton - Marine Lab Specialist (Photographer)
Edwin Garrett - Marine Lab Specialist (Paleomagnetics)
Dennis Graham - Marine Lab Specialist (Chemistry)
"Gus" Gustafson - Marine Lab Specialist (Downhole/Thin Section)
Burney Hamlin - Laboratory Officer
Michiko Hitchcox - Marine Lab Specialist (Yeoperson)
Terry Klepak - Marine Computer Specialist
John Lee - Marine Lab Specialist (Chemistry)
Kevin MacKillop - Marine Lab Specialist (Physical Properties)
Matt Mefferd - Marine Computer Specialist
Eric Meissner - Marine Electronics Specialist
Dwight Mossman - Marine Electronics Specialist
Scott Rutherford - Marine Lab Specialist
Don Sims - Marine Lab Specialist (X-ray)
Lorraine Southey - Marine Lab Specialist (Curatorial)
Joel Sparks - Marine Lab Specialist (X-ray)
Port Call in Miami, Florida
The technical staff supporting Leg 165 began crossover activities with the Leg 164 technical staff on the morning of 19 December 1995 in Miami, Florida. The two technical teams continued until 1300 hrs, when a Texas A&M mandatory annual Radiation Safety seminar was conducted by Kieth Carsten. Other port activities included the installation of the new DEC AlphaServer, which is central to the JANUS installation, and refilling the cryogenic magnetometer with liquid helium.
The ship sailed at 2030 hr, on 21 December, approximately an hour after the last scientist arrived aboard. Leaving with us, besides the routine complement of personnel, were two TRACOR representatives, to test modules of the JANUS database with the newly installed system server, and an observer representing Colombia, as the second site would be in Colombian waters. The early departure added valuable time to the tight time schedule of Leg 165.
Underway
Navigation tapes and depth recorders were turned on as the ship left Miami, and the magnetometer sensor was deployed west of Key West when the ship's course lay outside the coastal ship traffic and led into deeper water. The only seismic survey of the leg was at Site 999, where a 4-hr survey was conducted using two 200-in3 HAMCO water guns. Strong trade winds and cross seas contributed to noisy analog records reflecting the sea state, as did the low filter settings selected, though subsequent processing improved the record considerably.
On the way to San Juan from Site 1002, the ballasted digital streamer was towed at various speeds and cable lengths to determine to what depth it would settle. The depth meter readings froze about two-thirds of the way through the planned stations and the test was canceled.
Special Objectives
The shallow-water piston coring and high-resolution water chemistry planned for the last site in the Cariaco Basin presented a challenge in planning and execution. This anoxic site is thought to retain the best climate record in the Atlantic for the past quarter of a million years, revealed by annual layering. All participants watched a hydrogen sulfide safety video early in the leg, and a meeting was held prior to arrival at the site to familiarize the party with the problems encountered recovering gassy sediments when high pressure or H2S conditions are encountered. Temporary powered fume extractors were connected to the cutting room natural vent and one of the port holes. Hydrogen sulfide gas levels remained low with a peak of 7 ppm analyzed from one void in a core. Core lab condition were measured at 1 ppm maximum.
Curation
The leg presented a wide range of recovery, from the rapidly moving shallow-water multiple piston coring sites with gassy and anoxic muds through indurated carbonates and limestones to basement basalts. Critical K/T and Paleocene/Eocene boundaries and a record number of ash layers were recovered. Routinely recovered core was sent to the Bremen core repository (BCR). The critical K/T boundary and all the Cariaco cores, including unsplit cores from two holes, and BCR container core box overflow were sent to the Gulf Coast core repository for special attention, further sampling, and temporary storage.
Computer Services
Tracking and billing for personal cc:mail services was initiated on this leg. Weekly summaries were posted to keep people aware of their position in relation to the gratis allotment.
TRACOR initiated CORELOG and SAMPLE portions of the new JANUS database. The new server loaded, processed, and plotted MST data, while still being debugged by TRACOR and evaluated by the scientists. The core log portion of the JANUS system is now mostly functional.