About the cruise
Ship: RV SONNE
Region: Indian Ocean, Mascarenen Plateau, Saya de Malha Bank
Projekt: MASCARA
Chief scientist: Dr. Sebastian Lindhorst
Scientists: 38
Departmenture: 06th September 2019 (Hong Kong)
Arrival: 23rd October 2019 (Port Louis)
On the RV SONNE research cruise SO270 MASCARA (Saya de Malha carbonates, oceanography and biogeochemistry) scientists from 5 different countries participate. The six working groups on board are formed by 38 scientists from 9 different institutes. The cruise will start in Hong Kong the 6th of September 2019 and will end in Port Louis the 23rd October. The working area is the Mascarene Plateau with the Saya de Malha Bank in the Indian Ocean. The Saya de Malha Bank (SMB) is a tropical carbonate platform controlled by water mass boundaries and currents which exert a strong control on sedimentation, ecosystems and biogeochemistry.
The aims of the cruise are:
· amend models of carbonate sequence stratigraphy;
· develop a sedimentological model for a carbonate platform under the influence of internal waves;
· establish a model of carbonate sedimentation in an area with varying biogeochemical nature;
· unlock the record of paleoceanographic changes recorded in the deposits.
Sedimentology, micropaleontology and hydroacoustics data will characterize the deposits, seismic and Parasound data will resolve the stratigraphy. Data from CTD, ADCP and biogeochemistry will resolve oxygen and nutrient regimes, and sediment-water interaction.
Current Position of RV SONNE and a 360° online tour of RV SONNE
Working groups
Biogeochemistry
Carbonate chemistry
Hydroacoustics
Mikropaleontology
Sedimentology
Seismics
Participate insitutes and guests
Institut für Geologie, Universität Hamburg, Bundesstraße 55, 20146 Hamburg, Germany
Leibniz-Zentrum für Marine Tropenforschung GmbH, Fahrenheitstraße 6, 28359 Bremen, Germany
Max-Planck-Institut für Chemie, Hahn-Meitner-Weg 1, 55128 Mainz, Germany
Institut für Geophysik, Universität Hamburg, Bundesstraße 55, 20146 Hamburg, Germany
Department of Geosciences, College of Petroleum Engineering & Geoscience, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia
Departmento de Estratigrafía y Paleontología, Universidad Granada, Avenida de la Fuente Nueva S/N C. P., 18071 Granada, Spain
Republic of Mauritius
Republic of Seychelles