While I was in deep sleep another dredge was completed, at about 6:00 in the morning it reached the back deck. I did get all the information about the dredge once I arrived for my watch shift at noon. The dredge had collected 3 more big igneous rocks that Alan thinks might fall in the range between a dacite and an andesite. The collection of more rocks from the seafloor is always an exciting addition to the research. During my watch shift, Matt was busy cutting rocks from the previous dredges into small rectangles using a wet rock saw.
Matt, a PhD student at The University of Cardiff in Wales, is cutting rocks into smaller sample pieces.
Here is the final product after the rocks have been cut. It is much easier to transport rocks when they are cut into thin rectangles.
The small samples of the rocks will then be transported to Cardiff where they will be made into thin sections to be looked at under special microscopes and be used for further investigations. I also took part in creating the small rectangular rock samples by cutting some of the rocks in half using the saw. I didn't want to make the smaller cuts because that was getting a little too close to my fingers!
It was fun to use the power saw, but I had to be very careful.
We are currently traveling eastward for the next few hours toward our 8th dredge location. The dredge will go into the water early tomorrow morning, so again I will get all the news on it when I arrive for my watch at noon.