| Project Liaison: Leon Holloway |
ODP/TAMU was asked to supply an engineer to be part of the French/American team for ODPNAUT submersible dives associated with two CORK installations at Holes 948D and 949C on the North Barbados Ridge. Dr. Kier Becker from the University of Miami was chief scientist for the American team, and John-Paul Foucher from the Institut Francais de Reserche pour l'Exploration de la Mer (IFREMER) was the chief scientist for the French team.
The work was performed by the IFREMER submersible, the NAUTILE, and supported by its mother ship, the R/V NADIR. The plan involved using the NAUTILE to download data from both data loggers, assist in pulling the data logger/thermister string, replace the data logger with a dummy plug at Hole 948D, and conduct a series of flow experiments at Hole 949C. A series of heat-flow measurements with a temperature probe were also scheduled at the conclusion of the CORK work.
Data were downloaded from Hole 949C showing fluid pressure at about 6 months might be a minor fluid flow event. The dives confirmed that the Hole 948D CORK is not properly sealed. The shallow-pressure data were essentially hydrostatic, but pressure data from sensors in the bottom of the barite-weighted hole suggest supra-hydrostatic pressures. Temperature recordings from both holes match those measured in the boreholes with WSTP before the CORKs were set on Leg 156.