Opportunity: Join 2018 Expedition to an Undersea Volcano

Brothers is an active submarine volcano whose oval-shaped caldera summit is 3.5 kilometers wide. It is 1350 meters below sea level and the dome rise 350 meters above the sea floor. It is one of a string of 33 volcanoes in the Kermadec arc, part of the Ring of Fire that forms a necklace of volcanoes around the entire Pacific Ocean. Photo courtesy of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.

Expedition 376 from 5 May to 5 July 2018, will investigate the fundamental, interrelated processes governing subseafloor hydrothermal activity at Brothers volcano, southern Kermadec arc (IODP proposal 818-Full2).

Application Deadline: April 1, 2017

The primary objectives are to (1) Characterize the subsurface, magma-derived volatile phase for testing models predicting the existence of either a single-phase gas or a two-phase brine-vapor; (2) Explore the distribution of base and precious metals and metalloids at depth as well as the reactions that have taken place during their precipitation along fluid migration pathways to the seafloor; (3) Quantify the mechanisms and extent of fluid-rock interaction, and what this implies for the mass flux of metals and metalloids to the ocean as well as the role of magma-derived carbon and sulfur species in acting as agents for those fluxes; and (4) Assess the diversity, extent, and metabolic pathways of microbial life in an extreme, acidic, and metal-toxic (sub)volcanic environment. To learn more about the scientific objectives of Exp. 376, life at sea, and how to apply to sail, please join us for a web-based seminar on Wednesday, March 15, 2017 at 1:00 pm EDT.

To participate in the webinar, you need access to the Internet and a computer with a microphone and speaker capability or a telephone. To register, click the following link: Exp. 376 Webinar. After registering, you will receive an email response with instructions on how to join the webinar.

Expedition 376 webpage

Opportunities exist for researchers (including graduate students) in specialties – including (but not limited to) sedimentologists, petrologists (igneous/metamorphic/sulfide), structural geologists, paleomagnetists, petrophysicists, borehole geophysicists, microbiologists, and inorganic/organic geochemists. U.S.-affiliated scientists interested in participating in this expedition should apply to sail through the U.S. Science Support Program, by clicking here. The deadline to apply is April 1, 2017.

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