WESTMEDFLUX-2
Type | Oceanographic cruise |
---|---|
Ship | L'Atalante |
Ship owner | Ifremer |
Dates | 12/04/2018 - 26/04/2018 |
Chief scientist(s) | POORT Jeffrey , GORINI Christian |
INSTITUT DES SCIENCES DE LA TERRE DE PARIS - UMR 7193 4 place Jussieu 75005 Paris +33 (0)1 44 27 52 73 |
|
DOI | 10.17600/18000402 |
Objective | The WESTMEDFLUX-2 oceanographic cruise is part of the project that studies the presence of thermal anomalies in the ocean-continent transitions of the Western Mediterranean. The proposed cruise follows WESTMEDFLUX that took place in 2016 and that resulted in mapping regional trends of thermicity in in the Gulf of Lion, offshore Baleares and Sardinia. It also pointed out to the existence of several local heat flow anomalies in particular on the South Balearic slope and deep basin. In the deep oceanic basin, strong anomalies seem to be merely associated to salt diapiric structures, but on the rifted continent and transition zone, other heat sink and sources are suggested (e.g., bottom water currents, slope instabilities and focused fluid migrations). In order to better understand the source of these anomalies and the link with the crustal nature and structuring of the margin, we propose on the South-Balearic margin additional close-spaced heat flow measurement, sediment coring and dredging sites. Sediment cores will be used for turbidite and contourite studies and for geochemical analysis of pore fluids. The dredging operations aim an estimation of age and nature of volcanic rock material from sea mounts. |