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RRS James Cook JC027

Cruise summary report

Cruise Info. 
Ship name (ship code)RRS James Cook (740H)
Cruise identifierJC027
Cruise period2008-08-05 — 2008-09-03
StatusCompleted
Port of departureLas Palmas, Spain
Port of returnPortland Harbour, United Kingdom
PurposeResearch
ObjectivesTiming and frequency of landslide and gravity flow geohazards along the eastern North Atlantic continental margin

This research cruise was a contribution towards the NERC strategic science programme (Oceans 2025). The main scientific objective was to improve our understanding of landslide and gravity flow geohazards along the eastern North Atlantic margin, in particular by studying event timing and frequency in the recent geological record. Special attention was being paid to geohazards that may potentially impact UK communities and infrastructure.

Shallow piston coring of turbidite successions in deep basins produces the best record of recent (<50 kyrs) gravity flow events on adjacent margins (e.g. Weaver et al., 2000), but the availability of pre-existing data from the study area was patchy. Consequently, a key aim of JC027 was to 'fill the gaps' and recover cores from basins, or sections of basins, where data are urgently required. A total of 60 piston and megacores was successfully recovered during the cruise, from a series of lower canyon and basin floor environments.

Shallow geophysical data, including subbottom profiles and hull-mounted multibeam bathymetry, were collected quasi-continuously during the cruise to define local environment around core sites. In complex areas, such as seafloor scours, Autosub6000 was deployed to collect high-resolution EM2000 multibeam bathymetry.
Chief scientistRussell B Wynn (National Oceanography Centre, Southampton)
ProjectOceans 2025
Coordinating bodyNERC
Cruise reportRRS James Cook JC027 cruise report jc027.pdf (0.38 MB) 
Ocean/sea areas 
GeneralNorth East Atlantic Ocean (limit 40W)
SpecificNorth Canary Islands slope; Selvage Islands slope; Agadir Basin; lower Agadir Canyon; Seine Abyssal Plain; Horseshoe Abyssal Plain; lower Sao Vicente Canyon; Tagus Abyssal Plain; lower Setubal/Cascais Canyon; Tagus Abyssal Plain; lower Nazare Canyon; Theta Gap; Biscay Abyysal Plain; Whittard Channel
Track chartsRRS James Cook JC027 cruise track — jc027trk.pdf (0.05 MB) 
Measurements 
Geology and geophysics 
Core - soft bottomQuantity: number of cores = 5
Description: Mega cores. All mounted with 8 tubes; whole cores in BOSCORF; due to be split in 2009
Core - soft bottomQuantity: number of cores = 55
Description: Piston cores. All cores split, photographed, described and retained; now held in BOSCORF
Geophysical measurements made at depthQuantity: number of surveys = 5
Description: Autosub6000 deployed with Simrad EM2000 multibeam echosounder; each survey area roughly 20-25 km3
Single-beam echosoundingDescription: Simrad hull-mounted SBP120 subbottom profiler; data quality variable: run quasi-continuously throughout cruise (several hundred line km)
Single-beam echosoundingDescription: Towfish-mounted 3.5 kHz subbottom profiler; run quasi-continuously throughout cruise (several hundred line km)
Multi-beam echosoundingDescription: Simrad hull-mounted EM120 multibeam echosounder; data quality variable; run quasi-continuously throughout cruise (several hundred line km)