Deep-sea Discoveries

Both myself and Nathan were severely disappointed in the email we received from one Lucie Reynolds today. Receiving interesting email is one of the only things that changes up the routine a bit out here.
Instead of the rip-roaring congratulatory salutation of another successful blog post from Lucie, we both, with heavy hearts, received the news that she will be going away for two weeks and shall no longer be in contact. Oh woe betide us lonely pilgrims on the savage and desolate western seas. Alas. However, We are left in the capable hands of Nikki Montenegro, who will no doubt continue to diligently post our high seas adventures for all to read. Godspeed Ms. Montenegro, you're our only hope. Godspeed.

Gniesses! Granites! Schists! Sandstones!
A veritable bonanza of bits of sub-ocean mountain. Paydirt! The fullest basket yet! Once the dredge was up and upended, and a child's playground of rocks, sludge and muddy sand covered the deck of the Surveyor, we descended like vultures to feast on the carrion of our discovery.
Our fearless leader, Chief Scientist Simon Williams has done it again. Oh where would we be without his tireless efforts? 3 out of 3 successful dredges. What does this all mean?? More cogitation will be required to make sense of this.

PS I might have ocean madness.

Aedon

We've finally hit rock bottom. Huzzah! 3000 metres down. That's about the distance from the Opera House to Central station. The dredge is coming up as we speak, hopefully with some tasty rocks from the Gulden Draak ridge/seamount. What bounty our dredge basket contains, who knows? Will it be more igneous and metamorphics'? Sedimentarys'? Megatron?
Hopefully we'll get some sea beasties from the depths, unseen by man's eyes. That'd be cool. Fingers crossed we don't get naught but air, or possibly the wooden spoon prize of boots and shopping trollies.
I'll get back to you in a bit....

Aedon

As the Surveyor steams on, the pretty colours and curious curves begin to take meaning. The monotonous blue ocean's position in space and time begin to take shape. The 3000km long stretch of abyss between Perth and the Dirk-Harthog Ridge ("-25.334, 100.196"), tell a tale of uniformity - at first glance. But then, the cretaceous normal superchron appears to have murmurings of uniqueness. Some reminisce of an area well to the south, that speaks of a similar tale. Could these subtleties be part of some grander plan? Is this extinct spreading ridge, previously held responsible for sending Australia and India to opposite ends of the ocean, indeed what it seems? Ho! A wild rock appears. Granites and Gneiss, dredged from 3km below the surface, adding credence to our story. But what is this... a short steam away the dredge brings terrible evidence to any unsuspecting geophysicist.
What be these sandstones residing in my spreading ridge!? Do these continental pieces fit together in some rifted margin? Perhaps sheared off 100Ma by the grinding of the Indian and Australia tectonic masses!
To whom does this silica-quartz slipper belong?

Stay tuned for the developing epic of the Southern Surveyor.

Butters

Life at sea quickly becomes a set of routines. I read somewhere that keeping a routine stops you from going completely bonkers in a strange and new environment. Wakeup-eat-read-eat-work-sleep-repeat. Running mag lines can be somewhat monotonous as well. It essentially consists of steaming in a straight line at about 10 knots, dragging a magnetometer behind the boat. The magnetometer measures the magnetic field of the ocean floor, allowing us to date it using magnetostratigraphy and reconstruct the motions of the oceans and the continents backwards through time. That being said, taking 500 nautical miles of mag lines at a speed of 10 knots takes some time.

Aedon

SO MUCH FOOD!! Wow. They feed us really well on this boat. Every meal is pretty much a buffet of delicious comfort food. And free access to cakes, ice cream and various desert food every night. I don't think I've ever eaten so much meat. It would be so easy to finish the cruise 5kg heavier than at the beginning. Two small consolations however. 1.
There is a gym on the boat, with a rowing machine, treadmill and exercise bike. The treadmill is tricky if the boats moving too much though. 2. Our shift means that we generally sleep through the eggs-and-bacon breakfast. Temptation averted.

Aedon

The researchers on board the cruise appear to be going slightly stir-crazy (evidence below). Ed

Indian Ocean
Probing into the unknown
Southern Surveyor

Juggernaught roiling
Guts constantly rising up
and back down again

Magnetometer
faithfully wiggling along
the ocean bottom

Swath bathymetry
All the little nooks and crans
are revealed with you

Down down down so far
Reaching into the depths and past
dredging up answers

The Simpsons Movie
I wasted my flipping time
Completely banal

Zohar sits down quick
Israeli bum through the chair
Carpentry skills win

Nathan Butterworth
Boat shoes, pink watch and polo shirts
What a total spunk

Aedon Talsma please,
stop playing the red hots please
We've all had enough

International
waters. Yea baby game on
I cant finish this