What do you suppose the majority of the earth looks like? Grassy? Mountainous? (lots of mountains) Well, let's work backwards. Sometimes that's the best way to figure out a puzzle. Layout what you know. So lots of different terrains exist depending on what part of the world you are in...but the majority of this planet is covered with water. That's why this is called the 'blue' planet. About 70% or so. So given all that, I think it's a safe bet to say that a large percentage of the earth surface is muddy sediment. And that's what we were sampling today - cores of sediment. We deployed the megacore. What this is is a large instrument that is lowered to the bottom of the seafloor and takes sediment cores in the tubes. When it comes up we analyze the core layer by layer. They are looking for megafauna (Craig and David get really excited about the worms found in this layer) and chlorophyl a. I never realized how many worms live underwater, in whale bones, in the mud. They are still finding more species who call those whale bones home.
Here's where we are - Flandres Bay. This is a screen shot of the computerized map on the ship. Now go to a bigger map and see where we are in relation to you.
Here is the Megacore instrument. It holds 12 tubes. It is lowered into the water down to the bottom. The cylinders are plunged into the sediment and snap closed.
Here is the Megacore instrument. It holds 12 tubes. It is lowered into the water down to the bottom. The cylinders are plunged into the sediment and snap closed.
Bon Voyage. The Megacore is being lowered down to the depths.
The progress of the megacore can be monitored from the ship. Kris is closely following the progress.
A successful journey. The megacore came back with all 12 cylinders filled. That doesn't always happen. Sometimes they don't all fire correctly.
The sediment is collected in chunks that have been carefully measured. They will be analyzed for megafauna and chlorophyll a. This is a very time consuming and very muddy process. Oh, by the way, this is what a huge percentage of the earth's surface looks like! Muddy.
There were some beautiful jelly fish that came up with the megacore.
...And some unusual looking worms. This one is likely an Echiuran worm.
Tomorrow we will be trawling for invertebrates. Stay tuned.