The REEFCORES-2 cruise was done in the frame of the 2010-2014 CNRS-INEE REEFCORES program (REEFs and CORals from the EparseS), lead by IFREMER and CEREGE. This program aims to reconstruct past sea-level, climate and environmental changes since the Late Quaternary, based on the study of modern carbonate platforms (Eparses Islands et West Madagascar). The first cruise realized in  2011 (REEFCORES-1, RV Marion Dufresne) allowed to acquire some sedimentological data to quantify sediments in lagoons of the Eparses Islands acccumulated since their reflooding during the last deglacial sea-level rise (last 20000 years). First results obtained in 2011 during REEFCORES-1 were completed by bathymetric and seismic surveys along the slopes and basins adjacent to the Eparses Islands during the PTOLEMEE cruise (CNFH cruise realized in 2014 onboard L'Atalante, PAMELA project).

In this context, the REEFCORES-2 cruise aimed to acquire shallow-water bathymetry and seismic profiles, in order to map the overall drowned reef terraces located on the edge of Zélée, Geyser et Glorieuses carbonate banks, and to complete sedimentological data accumulated in lagoons to improve the distribution and quantification of holocene sediment volumes.