Popping Rocks
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2018 Blog

Contents

  • 1 From Rocks to Rock Stars: A step-by-step guide to how a sample becomes a star
  • 2 A Sacrifice to the Sea
  • 3 Things on Ships
  • 4 Our Cups Runeth Under
  • 5 Traditions and Opportunities
  • 6 A Day at Sea
  • 7 Back to the Ocean Floor
  • 8 A Conversation with A Stranger: “Wait, You Do What?!”
  • 9 In Transit
  • 10 Two Ships Pass

From Rocks to Rock Stars: A step-by-step guide to how a sample becomes a star

By Alex Schweitzer | June 14, 2018

From collection to processed sample, deep sea rocks go through quite a lot. Because these samples are difficult to obtain, we take utmost care to make sure they remain as pristine as possible. Furthermore, we can’t go back down to get another piece of the same rock, so our team follows a series of checks […]

A Sacrifice to the Sea

By Josh Curtice | June 8, 2018

One objective of this expedition is to use a gravity corer to get a 3-foot-long cylindrical sample of sediment from the middle of the mid-Atlantic Ridge.

Things on Ships

By Darin Schwartz | June 4, 2018

Our primary science objectives aboard R/V Atlantis revolve around the human occupied vehicle, Alvin and autonomous underwater vehicle, Sentry. But it takes a lot more things than these two sophisticated machines to make data collection happen aboard the ship. Just how many things I was not fully aware until I stuck a rock hammer under […]

Our Cups Runeth Under

By Harry Brodsky | June 1, 2018

As Alvin and its three passengers sink toward the seafloor, a tiny cargo sits tucked away, out of sight. It’s a laundry bag, the kind made from cotton mesh, with a dozen or so Styrofoam cups stowed safely inside.

Traditions and Opportunities

By Emma McCully | June 1, 2018

An opportunity to dive in the human-occupied vehicle (HOV) Alvin is as exciting as it is rare. At the start of this cruise, there have only been 4,941 dives in the 50-plus-year history of the sub’s existence. According to Adam Soule, co-principal investigator on this expedition, roughly 3,000 scientists have dived in Alvin (many scientists […]

A Day at Sea

By Kristen Fauria | May 29, 2018

It has been almost two weeks since we left port in Bermuda. For me, it took about a week (the entire transit), to adjust to life at sea. Four days after being on the ship I would still wake up in the morning, get out bed, and fall over, caught off guard by the rocking […]

Back to the Ocean Floor

By Mark Kurz | May 28, 2018

We arrived at the first dive site at 8:40 in the morning and Alvin was in the water by 9:20. The six-day transit from Bermuda gave us plenty of time to plan the first dive, so everyone was ready to go and we were all relieved to get here and get started without wasting a […]

A Conversation with A Stranger: “Wait, You Do What?!”

By Maxine Kantor | May 23, 2018

Let me set a scene. Perhaps an airplane might be best. You are sitting in your seat and your fellow row mate is surprisingly chatty. He or she wants to know where you’re going, where you’re from, and then the next question: “What do you do for a living?”

In Transit

By Mark Kurz and Eric Mittelstaedt | May 17, 2018

It seems like just yesterday that we left Bermuda, but we are now on our final day of the six-day transit from Bermuda to the Mid Atlantic Ridge at 14°N latitude. We spent the time getting ready for the first Alvin dive, which is scheduled for tomorrow morning, right after our anticipated arrival on the […]

Two Ships Pass

By Adam Soule | May 16, 2018

Traveling to beautiful ports-of-call is one of the benefits of conducting scientific research in the deep sea. The port of call for the Popping Rocks 2 cruise was St. George’s, Bermuda, an idyllic tropical oceanside town, but there was a sight waiting for us that made it feel more like home. In addition to the […]

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About this expedition: Popping rocks revisited

We will be using the research vessel Atlantis, the submersible Alvin, and the autonomous underwater vehicle Sentry, to find and collect samples of “popping rocks”—basaltic seafloor lavas that contain large amounts of carbon dioxide and other gases trapped in high-pressure bubbles that pop when the rocks are brought to the surface. We intend to use these rocks to understanding the composition and origin of gases in the deep earth. This project began with an expedition in 2016 that was cut short due to mechanical problems. You can still see blog posts from the first trip here, and we will continue adding to them during the 2018 expedition.

Recent Posts

  • From Rocks to Rock Stars: A step-by-step guide to how a sample becomes a star
  • A Sacrifice to the Sea
  • Things on Ships
  • Our Cups Runeth Under
  • Traditions and Opportunities

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